{"id":12742,"date":"2026-03-02T09:47:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/?p=12742"},"modified":"2026-03-02T09:48:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:48:03","slug":"12742","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/2026\/03\/02\/12742\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1. Explain how you understand the means of production and labor. Give an example of each.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The means of production are the tools and resources needed to create a product, while labor is the effort and time workers use to make those tools to something that has value and can be sold. For instance, a coffee shop like Starbucks. In this case, the means of production would be the coffee machines, the grinders, the store building, the coffee beans, and the company\u2019s name brand. All of these things are necessary to produce and sell the drinks. While labor is when the barista grinds the beans, steams the milk, makes the drink, takes orders, and serves the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. What is value?\u00a0 What gives \u201cvalue\u201d to value, what makes something valuable?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Value is not the same thing as price. Value is about the amount of time and effort invested in producing something. According to Marx, what makes something valuable is the labor that goes into making it. If it takes more training, skill, and time to produce something, then it has more value because it requires more labor time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. How are labor and value related? What\u2019s the relationship\/connection between the two?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labor and value are connected. Labor is what starts the process, and value is the result. According to this theory, value comes from the work people put in. If no one works on something, its value stays the same. For instance, a piece of wood has some value, but if someone spends time turning it into a chair, it becomes more valuable because of the labor involved. In short, labor creates value. The more time and effort required, the higher the value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. How do you understand the difference between labor and labor power?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labor is the actual activity of working, such as serving customers, building a house, or cooking food. It is the action that happens during the workday. However, labor power is different. It is the worker\u2019s ability or capacity to work for a certain period of time. It is not the action itself, but the potential to perform that action. According to Marx, in capitalism, workers don’t sell the products they make. Instead, they sell their labor power to an employer for wages. For example, if I work an 8-hour shift, I am selling my labor power for those 8 hours. During that time, I use my energy, skills, and knowledge to do the job, which is labor. What the employer buys – pays for – is my ability to work for those hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Surplus Value: what is it? Why is it important to know about, in our study of social classes? Think about an example of surplus value?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surplus value is the extra value that workers create beyond what they are paid. An example of surplus value is someone working at McDonald’s earns $15 per hour. In just one hour, they might help prepare and sell much more than $15 worth of food. Even after paying for ingredients and other costs, the company still makes extra money from that worker\u2019s labor. After a few hours, the worker has already created enough value to cover their daily wage, but they continue working the rest of their shift. The extra value created during those remaining hours goes to the company as profit. That extra portion is what Marx calls surplus value, and it helps explain why there is conflict between workers and owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Explain how you understand the means of production and labor. Give an example of each. The means of production are the tools and resources needed to create a product, while labor is the effort and time workers use to make those tools to something that has value and can be sold. For instance, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion-board-5-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12743,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12742\/revisions\/12743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}