Capital,%20Volume%20I,%20Chapter%20One

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Capital, Volume I, Chapter One

• Labor Theory of Value

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Structure of the Chapter

• Section 1 The Substance of Value
• Section 2 The Measure of Value
• Section 3 The Form of Value
• Section 4 Fetishism

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Sec. 1 The Substance of Value

• Flow of the Argument
• From commodity exchange
• (A exchanges for B)
• to
• Abstract Labor
• (What they have in common)

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Dialectical Flow

• In Hegel
• being? nothing (becoming)
• In Marx
• exchange? abstract labor (money form)
• Why labor?
• At heart of capitalist social relations
• Saw in Part VIII on Primitive Accumulation

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Why Abstract Labor?

• Labor abstracted from specificity
• Defined without regard to type of concrete,
• useful labor (technical term)
• Labor as a general notion
• Historically specific concept
• before capitalism there was no labor
• with capitalism all activity becomes labor

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Labor Work

• Engels differentiated the two
• Labor work in capitalism
• Work the more general concept
• But, if there is no general concept of work
  outside of capitalism, then there is no difference

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Abstraction of abstract labor

• concept is abstracted from concrete, useful labor
• concept designates common social meaning social
  control
• concept denotes process/tendency toward
  abstractness, i.e.,deskilling of work

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Sec.2 Measure of Value

• Ques How do you measure useful labor?
• Ans by the time it takes
• Ques How do you measure abstract labor?
• Ans by the social time it takes
• Measure of value SNLT
• socially
  necessary labor time

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Measure and Productivity

• Productivity output per unit of input, or
• output per hour of work
• Doubling productivity 2X product for same work
  time (individual or social)
• Same work time same useful labor time, same
  abstract labor time
• So, 2X productivity 1/2 SNLT per unit

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Sec. 3 The Form of Value

• The Simple Form
• The Expanded Form
• The General Form
• The Money Form

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The Simple Form

• xA yB
• A, B randomly exchanged commodities
• x, y quantifiers
• sign means is worth
• primary focus is on the qualitative
  characteristics of this relationship

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The Relative Form

• In the expression xA yB
• xA is said to have the relative formof value
• Relative form the value of A is expressed
  relative to B
• B can be any commodity, so whatever it is, the
  value of A is being expressed relative to that
  commodity

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The Equivalent Form

• In the expression xA yB
• yB is said to have the equivalent form of value
• Equivalent form a use-value B is the
  expression of As value
• We exchange A for B, we look at B and we say,
  Ah! this B is the equivalent of the A we traded
  away!

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Contradiction

• In the relationship xA yB,
• A and B are in a particular kind of relationship
• Each is the opposite of the other, one has its
  value expressed, the other does the expressing
• Their meaning is inseparable from the relation
• We call this a contradiction (opposition
  unity)
• In Pt.VIII we saw that the class relationship
  involved such a contradiction

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Contradiction Class - 1

• Working Class Capital
• are like
• xA yB
• Within capitalism, working class is defined and
  takes its meaning from its exchange with capital
• Labor market x(work) y(income)

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Contradiction Class - 2

• Workers in relative form
• Workerss value gets expressed in relationship,
  e.g., what you are worth is given by your wage
• Capital in equivalent form
• Capitals equivalent (wage, income) expresses
  this value

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Contradiction Class - 3

• Yet, the relationship is NOT balanced
• Workers can be (and were) people without capital,
  outside of wage, etc.
• Capital can only be capital with people as its
  workers
• So, people can rebel/escape, capital cannot
• Here is the potential for revolution

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Reflexive Mediation

• In xA yB, B mediates As relationship to itself
• A discovers its own value through B
• B is like a mirror
• In a mirror we see one aspect of ourselves our
  visible light images
• A discovers one aspect of itself its value

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Reflexive Mediation Class

• Capital mediates peoples relationship to
  themselves
• They see themselves as as mere workers
• e.g., John Barton - Mill Worker (WC
  in-itself)
• e.g., John Barton - Unionist (WC
  for-itself)
• BUT, they can see other aspects of themselvs
  outside of this relationship
• e.g., Job Legh - naturalist

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Reflexive Mediation School

• School mediates students relationship to
  themselves
• They see themselves as mere students
• e.g., vis à vis the teacher
• e.g., vis à vis the administration
• Grade defines kind of student
• e.g., this is a B student
• Some students rebel at this narrow definition

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Reflexive Mediation Relationships

• Child - Parent
• Boyfriend - Girlfriend
• Wife - Husband
• All involve reflexive mediation, BUT
• People ARE multidimensional
• People NEED multiple mirrors
• So, all these relationships, if isolated, can
  lead to insanity or rebellion

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Child - Parent

• Early on
• child identifies with parent, relationship is
  enough of a definition of self
• parent identifies self as parent
• Later
• child must find new mirrors, break free of
  single source of self-defintion
• Same for parents! Hardest for
  house-wife-mother.

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Boyfriend - Girlfriend Wife - Husband

• Early On
• Intense focus on the other as VERY favorable
  mirror of self, reciprocal mirroring
• Later On
• 1. Peoples lives are multidimensionable and
  intense focus cant be sustained
• 2. People must find multiple mirrors

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Deficiency of Simple Form

• Equivalent form B is discreet, accidental
• Value expressed by product of a particular
  useful labor
• BUT, the nature of value is universal
• So, there is a contradiction between the
  universal substance of value (abstract labor) and
  its particular expression in the simple form of
  value

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The Expanded Form

• xA yB
• zC
• nN
• Expanded relative form of value
• Limitation of equivalent form is overcome
• Equivalent form consists of ALL other commodities
  and thus no longer particular
• This form is totalizing, infinite

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Totalization

• Expanded form is totalizing because every
  commodity that exists can represent the value of
  any one commodity
• Capital seeks this totalization
• seeks to convert all of life into commodities
• seeks to impose work on everyone
• seeks to impose a master narrative on world

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Infinity - 1

• The expanded form is infinite in the sense that
  there is no limit to expanding world of
  commodities, nN goes to infinity
• Capital has this quality of endless expansion
• through space (colonialism, imperialism, SciFi)
• through time (end of history)
• through all of reality (commodification of the
  cosmos, galactic work-machine)

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Infinity - 2

• However, the infinity of the expanded form is a
  bad infinity, in the Hegelian sense
• The expression of value is not unified it is a
  mosaic of differentiated expressions
• This contradicts the unitary nature of value
• A unique substance should have a unique expression

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The General Form

• yB xA
• zC xA
• nN xA
• In the general form the value of each and every
  commodity has a common, unique expression.
• The equivalent form is universal
• A is the universal equivalent

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Good Infinity

• The General Form is infinite just like expanded
  form expands endlessly
• BUT, this is a good infinity because it is not
  just a list of discrete expressions
• Rather, it is a unified expression of a unitary
  substance, common to all
• Universal equivalent mediates everthing

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Syllogistic Mediation - 1

• yB xA
• zC xA
• nN xA
• yB is related to zC only through xA
• two things mediated by a third is called
  syllogistic mediation

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Syllogistic Mediation - 2

• Aristotelian syllogism
• Caesar is a man
• All men are mortal
• Therefore Caesar is mortal
• Caesar the Individual is related to the Universal
  trait of mortality through his Particular
  characteristic of being a man (I-P-U)

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Syllogistic Mediation - 3

• Hegels Interest Syll. form of movement
• Elements (U)niversal, (P)articular,
  (I)ndividual
• In a fully developed syllogistic form all
  elements are mediated in their relationships
• I-P-U,
• P-U-I,
• U-I-P

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Syllogistic Mediation Class-1

• Working class in-itself defined by capital
• Working class in-itself is a serial group
• Capital seeks to mediate among workers
• pays some a wage, some not
• pays some more, some less
• divides by job, plant, industry
• divides to control

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Syllogistic Mediation Class-2

• Worker (W) - (I)ndividaul
• Capital (K) - (U)niversal
• Union -(P)articular
• W - K - U (right to work laws)
• But also K - W - U (K uses scabs)
• W - U - K (U mediates W vs K)
• Rupture wildcat strikes bypass U

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Syllogistic Mediation School

• Elements (S)tudents, (P)rofessors,
  (A)dministration
• S - P - A (profs impose rules, absorb anger)
• P - S - A (admin uses student evaluations)
• S - A - P (profs use admin against students)
• Rupture S bypass P and attack A

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Syllogistic Mediation Relationships

• Elements men (M),women (W) capital (K)
• M - K - W (marriage, sodomy, divorce laws)
• K - M - W (K uses M to control W)
• K - W - M (K uses W to control M)
• Rupture Womens movement bypasses M to attack
  capital directly, eg. welfare

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The Money Form - 1

• yB xAu
• zC xAu
• nN xAu
• Au gold, money
• Only difference from general form is that
  universal equivalent is determined by social
  custom, structures of power

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The Money Form - 2

• Includes all previous forms
• Has all their characteristics
• contradiction (unity opposition)
• reflexive mediation (money shows value)
• totalizing (money value displaces all others)
• infinite (endless expansion, common link)
• syllogistic mediation (everything is mediated by
  money), eg., yB - xAu - zC, or C - M - C

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--End--