SOCI370/capital

Labour-Power and Capital - Karl Marx

Paragraphs 1-6: Chris Ko

Marx argues that money is not able to replace the objects in which it represents but only assigns a set value to the commodity. This commodity that Marx is talking about in this section is the capacity of labour or labour-power. Marx says that labour-power or capacity for labour is a person’s ability to do work and whenever a person’s labour produces a use-value (Marx 48-49). This labour-power is seen by Marx as something which is sold and bought on the market only if the person is the free to do as they wish. So for example, a worker selling his labour-power to the owner. And if someone wanted to sell commodities other than their own labour-power, they must have the proper means of production to be able to produce goods. This is still true today when people sell their labour on the free market to the owner which in turn provides them with money for their work. Where this becomes an issue is when the supply of labour-power greatly exceeds the demand for labour. In countries like China and India where the population is enormous, owners of various shops are able to exploit the people that work for them and the value of a person’s labour-power is greatly diminished.

Paragraphs 7-10: Hugh Knapp

Marx continues to illustrate that the relationship between the worker who owns his labour power and the owner of money is not a natural relationship. This relationship is neither a social relationship that has been congruent throughout time. Marx argues that historical development and economic revolutions have shaped this relationship. Marx then expands on how value of labour power is determined. We know that all the worker has to offer is his own hands; his capacity to work and continue to work. The value lies in the means of the ability to maintain a minimum level of support for the maintenance of the labourer. For example, pure survival needs like food, shelter, and rest amongst other things seem to be the value of the labourer as it is the value to keep his hands and mind moving effectively for the upcoming days at the factory. The value of labour power has been shaped socially and historically into norms that dictate what practices are agreed upon in a community to maintain labourer maintenance. Employment laws, hours of work per week, and the five-day workweek in a seven-day week point to examples of value of labour power. In a more absurd illustration, if all the worker needs to stay alive and operating at an appropriate level is Frosted Flakes cereal, the value of the labour power is Frosted Flakes.

Paragraphs 11-15: Tianna Yan (Weijia Yan)

Labor has become a commodity, as well as everything else, and it has its own value. How does the value of the labor force determined? First, the capitalist wants the workers to work, and they have to pay the cost that is necessary for the maintenance of their own survival. At the same time, to maintain the capitalist system of exploitation in capitalism, you need to have the next generation of workers added up, therefore, the labor value, also not including the cost of feeding children and lowest cost to maintain a family. In order to exploit workers, capitalists had to provide a certain education or training system for the labor force, but this is negligible. The labor force, like other commodities, has the value of using. But the labor force is a special commodity, its use value has the special nature. The general use value of commodity, when it is consumed, can not create any new value, but the use value of labour is different, when it consumed, it can not only create value, but also create more than the value of labor itself.

After the capitalists bought the workers' labor, it appeared that the wages of the capitalists paid the worker everyday, as if all the labor of the workers were paid. In fact, the capital in the form of household wages to cover up the nature of the exploitation of workers. In the capitalist society, workers' wages are much lower than the value of the labor force, and the income is not enough to maintain a minimum cost of make a living. The value of a day's labor force, and the value created by the labor of a day's work, is the two most unequal amount. The value created by labor greatly exceeds the value of the labor force.

Paragraphs 16-19: Katrina Gerona

Karl Marx examines the relationship between the capitalists and the workers through labour-power and shows that there is a sense of dependency between them. The capitalists accumulate its surplus value through the extra labour that is being produced by the workers but only a small portion is given to them (Marx 51-52). The Capitalists recognize the dire need of the workers to meet the means of subsistence in order to survive so therefore the Capitalists take advantage of this opportunity to enforce long hours of labour upon them to generate profit due to self-interest (Marx 52). The workers agree to do this extra labour with the expectation of earning extra money or value that will benefit them in return. Karl Marx reveals the nature of exploitation in labour which has a long history in our society. For example, during the Industrial Revolution in England before the legislation changed the amount of hours that people especially women and children could work, workers were powerless and forced to work in dangerous conditions for long hours. This still happens today in many third world countries like Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. Blueprints of products from corporate industries are sent to these countries and recruit workers such as women and children to create the product for wages that barely kept them to support their families.

The Patriarchal Family - Friedrich Engels

Paragraphs 20-23: Beverley Wong

In this section, Friedrich Engels examines the historical development of patriarchal society. Engels’ discussion centers around how the earliest family structures were characterized by female superiority and lineage traced through females, but shifted to an order of inheritance that followed patrilineal descent and established male dominance (Engels 52-53). His theory on patriarchy can be related to the violence against women in modern society. A recent example is the Brock Turner sexual assault case wherein Turner received an undeservedly lenient sentence, even with evidence against him, which illustrates male privilege and how the voices of women are ignored. Furthermore, Engels introduces his views on exploitation by identifying slavery as its first manifestation (Engels 53). Engels’ argument about exploitation can be related to the global problem of human trafficking which is a modern form of slavery and involves sex slavery, forced labor and many other violations of human rights.

Paragraphs 24-27: Bo Li

    Friedrich Engels states that there are mainly four stages of commodity production. Since slave labour serve as the “prevailing form of production” in civilization process, the slave labor ideology has also affected the relationship within family and bring more power and domination to man over woman. Engels also suggests that “the exploitation of one class by another is the basis of civilization”. (Engels 53) As we could see in the transition of female lineage to male lineage, man becomes the dominated group and therefore woman becomes the subordinated group.
    Engel’s idea could be linked to the nowadays patriarchal society. In these days, human being are expected to produce much more commodities then their real need to their own subsistence, because the more commodities produced, the more profit and power the ruling class would gain. Woman has been treated as the means of the reproduction of labour power. Their capacity of childbearing somehow becomes “glass ceiling” and cause them lose the right to keep power in society. Most of the people in power position are man and men are easier to get promotion compared to woman.