1.This video describes the means of production as what is used to produce goods. However, the means of labor is the work done by working class citizens, they are selling their labor in order to survive in the economy. An example of means of production from the video would be how an owner of a factory with machinery does the work for them and they don’t do any physical work themselves. An example of means of labor would be in that same factory those who work hourly and work the machines in the factory.
2.Based on what video 5.1 describes, value is created by labor. In order for something to have value you must assess the labor that went into making that product. The amount of labor that goes into a product determines the value of said product.
3. Labor and value are related in a sense that there couldn’t be one without the other. Without labor, products would have little to no value, and without value there would be no point in labor if products had no profit. These two essentially work hand and hand with one another.
4. I understand the difference between labor and labor power being that labor is the actual work that a person does, if somebody is selling food plates the labor is them cooking the food and packaging the orders and putting them out. Labor power on the other hand, is someone’s ability to work and to do a job efficiently. This is when for example a company isn’t actually making their food and putting out their orders but instead having someone else who is fit to do this job perform the labor.
5.Surplus value is how we understand how profit is made in a capitalist economy. This is the value that is kept by the owner as profit. It shows us the difference between what workers are actually paid verus what is the actual value of their labor. An example of this would be if a business owner that sells products makes a total of 1000 in profit from sale but the worker they hired only made 150 dollars in hourly wages. This would mean the owner made a profit of 850 that day after paying their employee. It is important to understand surplus value because we see that owners benefit more from paying their employees less than the value of their labor. This is how the rich stay rich.
Hey Amber, I really liked how you broke down the difference between labor and labor power, especially with the food plate example,that helped me see it more clearly! I also noticed from the video that labor power is super important in capitalism because it’s the only thing that actually adds new value. Like you said, even though workers do the labor, the profit usually goes to the owner who didn’t do the work but owns the means of production. That part stood out to me too. It really shows how uneven the system can be, especially when the value workers create isn’t what they get paid for. Your example with the $1000 profit and $150 wages explained that so well!