1. 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.
  2. Another important concept in understanding social class is value. Based on the ideas presented in Video 5.1, what is value?  What give “value” to value, what makes something valuable? 
  3. How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two?
  4. 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.
  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?

4 thoughts on “Discussion Board 5.1”

  1. Labor is human effort both physical and mental. used to transform raw materials into products or provide services. The means of production are what you need to make the actual things, and labor is the work people do to make those things happen.

    Value refers to the worth or importance of something. What contributes to value is its usefulness, desirability, and cultural significance. Something is considered valuable if people are willing to sacrifice something for it, such as money or time. The value of an item depends on how much it is wanted, its utility, and the meaning it holds for individuals or society.

    Labor contributes to the creation of value by turning raw materials into useful products. The more effort or skill is required to create something, the more value it can have. Labor determines the value of products.

    Labor is the effort and activity that someone puts into creating something. So if a person is assembling a product they are using their labor. Labor power is a person’s energy, skill, and time they can offer like how skilled they are at doing something and for how many hours they can do it for. Labor is the actual work and labor power is the way the work is getting done is how I understood it.

    Surplus value can explain how wealth and power are distributed in capitalist societies. Workers produce more value than they are paid. That extra value is the surplus and it is kept by the capitalists thats what makes them richer off laborers. Surplus value helps explain the widening gap between the rich and the poor, as the wealthy continue to profit from the labor of others.

  2. Means of Production refers to the physical, non-human elements needed to produce goods and services. Factories, technology, and raw materials are means of production. In a car manufacturing plant, the means of production are the assembly line, robotic arms, raw materials like steel, and the factory itself. Labor represents the human effort that goes into producing goods and services. This includes both physical and mental work performed by individuals. For example, in a car manufacturing plant, the workers who operate the machines and the engineers all represent labor.
    Value is the economic worth of goods and services; this value is determined by the amount of labor required to produce them. For example, if it takes more time and effort to make a luxury car compared to a standard car, it will have a higher value. Labor value is usually measured in time. Labor is the actual work or tasks performed by workers. Labor power is a worker’s knowledge and skills—their abilities and potential to work that they bring to a company. A welder brings their skills to weld safely to code, efficiently, and safely to the factory. Surplus value is the difference between the amount raised through a product’s sale and the amount it costs to manufacture it: It’s the value produced by labor that exceeds the cost of labor itself.

  3. The video presents the central ideas for understanding social class in a Marxist way. The means of production are everything necessary to produce goods and services, including the material needs, like factories, machines, and raw materials, and immaterial needs, such as technology and knowledge. Such is the case of the restaurant, wherein its means of production include its kitchen gear, food, and culinary art of the chef. Labor is, therefore, the human component in production, being the actual physical and mental exertion put into the process of production. For example, labor refers to the chefs who cook, the servers taking orders, and the dishwashers who wash the dishes. The value talked about here is, therefore, not simply the price tag you read on a product; it is the amount of labor that has gone into the commodity itself. This is the labor theory of value, qualifying a handmade item to be more valuable than a mass-produced one as it carries more labor vested in it. The distinction between labor and labor power becomes so glaring; in this, labor ties into the specific work done, while labor power is the latent capacity of workers to work, their skills and capabilities that they “sell” to the employer. Finally, surplus value is the extra value which added by the workers beyond the payment that gives rise to profit on the part of the capitalist. If a worker, therefore, produces goods worth 150 dollars but earns merely 80 dollars, the difference of 70 dollars is surplus value. The insight of surplus value is key in analyzing social classes because it reveals the mechanisms through which wealth is being accumulated and hence the plights of inequalities within the capitalist system.

  4. 1. I understand that a means of production, are the components that create a product. And labor is your ability to produce and work. An example is a fast food company, the means of production is the food, the ovens, the architecture of the building, and the utilities. And then labor would be hiring employees to create the meals out of the ingredients and sell that to customers for profit.
    2. What makes something valuable is measured by how much labor goes into production. The capitalist have the means of buying labor which is what generates profit so that is the dynamic of value it has with them. And workers sacrifice their time and labor for money so their dynamic if labour holds value because it’s needed & necessary for maintaining livelihood.
    3. Labour and value are connected through time. The more time that is labored through, the more valuable it is because their is a increase of production through it.
    4. Labor is apart of the means of production, trading money for time. And labor power is the ability to labor. For example having labor power is a powerful tool that excersises your value. While labour is the thing being excersised.
    5. Surplus value is essentially profit. When you over generate that the needed or expected mark .

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