- Two key concepts in this video are the means of production and labor. In your comment, explain how you understand the means of production and labor. Give an example of each.
In the video, it describes the means of production as the things people do to help produce a specific product. For example, the workers, the machinery, the materials, etc. However, there is still a need for the business or the company to get the product out to the public. The company also consists of owners, just like YouTube is owned by the company Google. For instance, as mentioned in the video, Karl Marx would consider making YouTube videos as a “Capitalistic Production.” This means that the product being released is privately owned opposed to being owned by the laborers, the people who made the product. Eventually the product is sold for a profit, like when google sells ad space on a YouTube video.
Some more examples of means of production are buildings like factories, land, commodities like gold and silver which can be made into jewelry, potatoes that can be turned into potato chips, tools that the workers use to make the products, or anything else the workers need to make things, such as money. The capitalists own the means of production. They are the ones who receive the capital and provide the items needed to create the product, like natural resources and machinery.
When labor was discussed in the video, it was defined as the key thing that can increase the value of your product. For example, if you have a block of wood and do not do anything with it, the value of that block remains the same. However, if you fashion that wood block into something useful, like a chair, the value of the wood will increase. You may attempt to raise the price of that chair for, but this won’t affect its value.
- Another important concept in understanding social class is value. Based on the ideas presented in Video 5.1, what is value? What gives “value” to value, what makes something
valuable?
According to video 5.1 Karl Marx believed that value was how much labor was put into making a particular item under normal circumstances. The labor used is also measured in time. The more time put into making an item the more valuable that item becomes. Therefore, if a machine performs the same action, the item has less value because it takes less labor to make it. The more time spent on a product by human laborers, the more value the product has. If the job consists of a substantial number of training sessions it means that the item becomes that much more costly. This is because the job cannot be done without the necessary training sessions. This is an example of Marx’s “Theory of Value.” This simply means that time is money. For example, if a pair of shoes takes twice as long to make as a pair of pants, then the shoes are considered more valuable. The price of these shoes would be twice as much as pants regardless of how long it takes to make them.
This was thought of as an unorthodox theory and isn’t commonly used by modern economists. They prefer the theory of value called marginalism. This is a theory in economics used to explain the difference between the value of goods and services in reference to their marginal use. Therefore, diamonds are more expensive than water because you get more satisfaction from receiving a diamond than you do a glass of water. Thus, the diamond has a more substantial marginal utility. However, some economists prefer to focus on prices rather than value, because you can discover how to gain a profit by looking at the price of a product. Both Marginalists and Marxists have debated these methods of determining value for quite some time.
- How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two?
As per the video, it explains that labor and value are interconnected. Marx believed that the value is the amount of effort put into a product by the hands of the laborers. The more effort put into the product the more value it holds. Labor is the single thing that helps increase the value of what you have. Marx believed that price is comparative to value, but value is how much labor it takes to make something under normal conditions. If you slack off and take two hours to make something that takes two, the value of the product isn’t reduced by half, nor does it double if you do it in a half an hour. It stays the same because it would usually only take one hour to produce. Any product is the result of demanding work and labor. Any price tag in a store would be a representation of the labor people put into making it. Additionally, the exchange of money for products is a demonstration of the labor used to create it. Although the value of certain merchandise can be vastly different, they all are a product of labor. It is the work combined with the materials made to make a product that makes them valuable. For example, for a hammer to work you need the raw materials like iron and rubber, but you also need the human labor it takes to hit the nails. This in turn, is how the two terms are attached to each other.
- How do you understand the difference between labor and labor power? Hint: this is a key difference, give it your best shot based on what the video says about it, and your own ideas. We’ll clarify and develop it in our discussions, and in my video comments.
Labor is not considered a good or service within the Marxist theory, but labor power is. Labor produces the goods which are necessary or useful to human life. However, labor power is the ability to labor and is the most important commodity in the world. This is the only product in its existence that increases its value when the labor is being used. It is what a worker offers to an employer or capitalist and is found only in humans while they are working or looking for work. The capitalist utilizes this labor power by asking the laborer to perform a specific labor-intensive activity, providing tools, machinery, and raw materials. It takes a specific amount of nourishment for someone to provide their labor power such as food, shelter, clothing, so they will have enough energy to work a 9 am-5 pm schedule. The worker is usually paid for their labor power in the form of a wage. While the worker is at work their labor power is owned by their employer for a set period of time. The goal of the employer or capitalist is to receive a specific commodity at the end of the person’s shift, whose value is more than what materials and labor it took to make that product, as well as the wages paid to the laborer for lending out their labor power.
- 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?
Marx defines surplus value as the gap between the value the laborer creates with their labor power and the money that is paid by the capitalist to the worker in the form of a wage. As previously mentioned, the worker’s capability to work, as well as the product they produce, belongs to the capitalist employer. Additionally, the value of the commodity put out by the laborer is greater than the value of the labor power itself. Surplus value is turned into profit for the capitalist, the business, and the company. To put it simply, they sell the products a worker makes and keep the profit for themselves. Marx thought that a worker is always being paid a great deal less than what they are worth. In capitalism you hire people to increase the value of the product you sell, give a worker a small wage, and leave with the majority amount of the money for yourself. Essentially, the capitalists are exploiting the working class for the use of their labor and labor power.
