5/29/2023 0 Comments Markx view on wage![]() ![]() For individual reasons and circumstances, many workers are not able to afford to subsist and reproduce themselves. This means that many workers do not actually receive the minimum wage. ![]() ![]() The price of the minimum wage is determined at the general level of the working class - not by the individual workers. The cost of the production of commodity x is that through which the relation between supply and demand is measured and determined.Ĭhapter Four: The price of wages (or the price of the labor power of the worker) is determined by the price of the means of subsistence or the means of life (the conditions of keeping the worker in working condition) and by the price of the reproduction of the working class (the cost of having to have the workers fuck and make replacements, i.e., children). Price is determined by supply and demand, but what determines the relation between supply and demand? The cost of production. However, competition is threefold: (1) competition between sellers, (2) competition between buyers, (3) competition between sellers and buyers. But what are these laws of the determination of price?Ĭhapter Three: What determines the price of a commodity? One word: competition. The laws that determine the prices of all other commodities also determine the price of labor power. Again, wages are the price of the commodity of labor power. So while the wage slave is not owned by any capitalist in particular he is, in fact, effectively owned by the capitalist class. True freedom would entail not having to sell one’s labor power to any capitalist and still be fine. But can he really choose to quit wage labor itself or the “whole class of buyers” (20)? If he quits wage slavery altogether, then he faces the perils of unemployment (hunger, poverty, low social status, etc.). Yes, the worker can quit his job and find another one. Sure, the workers can quit his job whenever he wants, but this is merely an abstract freedom. In other words, wage labor is a structure of capital. The commodification of labor power is a defining feature of capitalism. Capitalism is what turned labor power into a commodity to be bought and sold. Capital does not want this to happen because it would decrease its profit. If the worker got a percentage of the profits and if profits increased, then so too would wages. The worker gets a wage, but not a percentage of the profits. The worker’s energy is purchased like any other thing needed for the production of a commodity. The capitalist buys labor power with his already existing capital. Wages are not shares or percentages of the profits generated from the worker’s labor. Expressed in terms of money, the exchange value of a commodity is its cost, for example, a cup of coffee’s price or exchange value is three dollars. The exchange value refers to the quantitative worth of a product. The use value refers to the specific use a product fulfills, for example, coffee meets the need for having more energy. What the wage laborer makes is commodities, which are comprised of a use value and and exchange value. Think of labor power has one’s mental and physical energy as well as one’s time. However, what is really purchased is labor power (the capacity for labor) and not labor itself. I skip Chapter One because it’s just a short preliminary in which Marx sets a historical context.Ĭhapter Two: Wages are defined as the amount of money the capitalist pays the worker for a certain period or amount of labor. I wrote these summary notes a few months back when I was reading Marx. ![]()
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