- Means of Production Vs Labor:
Means of production are the materials and training needed in order for a product to be produced. Once a product is created it can be sold in the market for profit. Means of production are privately owned. This guarantees that 100% of the profit from labor is to be given to the owner and not to the employees. -If they had to bring their own tools or own part of those means, the profit would have to be split. Labor increases the value of what you have. Product value is only measured by the amount of labor needed to produce the product. Labor is the physical work one must do in order to complete a task. Means of Production and Labor go hand in hand in producing a product. Means of production warrant the presence of labor and the production of a product. Labor assures the production of a product but needs the means of production to do so.
- What is value? What gives “value” to value? What makes something valuable?
Value is how a product is produced under normal circumstances. If your product takes one hour to be produced and you produce it in an hour its value remains the same. If you take two hours to produce a product that only takes one hour, the value of your labor decreases. Value also decreases if the product needs minimal means of production, labor, and training. The cost of production, labor, and position in the market determines the value of a product.
- How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two?
Labor and value are strictly co-dependent in a capitalist society. Though labor contributes to the value of a product, the profit of the product’s value is used to pay for the means of production and labor. These two are what helped create, contribute and further the capitalist system. Labor is a means to determine the value of a product and value as a means to pay for that labor.
- Difference between labor and labor power:
Labor is the physical work you produce in order to create a product or contributes to the means of a company. However, work can not only be done through people many machines and factories are run by robots only and that is how a product is produced. Labor power is only found in people. Labor power increases the value of what you have. People sell their labor for money. Though robots exist people had to create, build, program, and sometimes even operate them. A company that produces paper needs people to cut down the tree, a well-functioning machine to create pulp, and so on. All of this contributes to the value but it is only through labor power that any of it even gets done.
- What is surplus value? Why is it important to know when studying social classes? What is an example of surplus value?
Surplus value is the profit made from sales of a product that does not include expenses from labor and means of production. Surplus demonstrates the exploitation of not just the capitalist system but the upper class vs the lower class. In an earlier reading “Wealth and Want in the United States” it was said that “the average private-sector employee works two hours for herself or himself and six or more hours for the boss.” One is always paid less than the product of their labor.
- Example:
A factory worker works for 8 hours a day and is capable of making 100 vases every two hours. In total, they can create 400 vases during one shift at work. This factory worker only earns 20$ an hour, in total making 160$ per day. Now if each of those vases they create is sold for 100$ each, the value of his labor is 250% more than they earn.
