1. I understand the means of production as the ability to produce something. To produce something, you have to have the proper items. An example of this would be a T.V. show. A T.V. show has to be produced and is produced by a production team. Labor is the means to increase the value of what one has. An example of this would be a field. Without any labor put into the field it will grow wild and be unusable. With labor put into maintaining the field the field can now be used, increasing the fields value.
  2. Value is how much labor it takes to produce under normal circumstances. What gives value to value is time. Time is the ultimate value and when someone uses their labor, they are using their time. In return making what they spent their labor on valuable.
  3. Labor and value are related because labor is the means for making something valuable. How much labor it takes to produce something dictates its value.
  4. Labor power is one’s ability to produce labor. It is the energy inputted when labor is produced. Labor is the ability to create value. It is an individual’s labor that makes a product more valuable.
  5.  Surplus value is the value on top of the value already produced under normal circumstances. It is the profit. This is important to know about in the study of social classes because not every class is treated the same. Some classes or jobs produce more surplus value then others. This causes conflicts between the laborers. An example of surplus value would be a worker working on a farm. In a couple of hours he may pick the equivalent of what he gets paid but he must continue to work to fulfill the owners of the farms bottom line.

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