A Contribution to the Critique of Political EconomyMarx, Karl
Philosophy
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Marx, Karl
Economics; Marxian economics
Furthermore, the labor-time of a single individual is directly
expressed in exchange value as _universal labor-time_, and this
_universal character_ of individual labor is the manifestation of its
_social character_. The labor-time represented by exchange value is the
labor-time of an individual, but of an individual undistinguished from
other individuals in so far as they perform the same labor; therefore,
the time required by one individual for the production of a certain
commodity is the _necessary_ labor-time which any other individual
would have to spend on the production of the same commodity. It is the
labor-time of an individual, _his_ labor-time, but only as labor-time
common to all, regardless as to which particular individual’s
labor-time it is. As universal labor-time it is represented in a
universal product, in a _universal equivalent_, in a definite quantity
of materialized labor-time: the latter is indifferent as to the
particular form of use-value in which it appears directly as the
product of an individual, and may be turned at will into any other
form of use-value to represent the product of any other individual.
Only as such a _universal_ quantity, is it a _social_ quantity. In
order to result in exchange value, the labor of an individual must
be turned into a _universal equivalent_, i. e., the labor-time of an
individual must be expressed as universal labor-time, or universal
labor-time as that of an individual. It is the same as though different
individuals had put together their labor-time and contributed the
different quantities of labor-time at their common disposal in the form
of different use-values. The labor-time of the individual is thus,
in fact, the labor time which society requires for the production of
a certain use-value, i. e., for the satisfaction of a certain want.
But the question that interests us here is as to the specific form in
which labor acquires a social character. Let us suppose that a certain
quantity of labor-time of a spinner is realized in 100 lbs. of yarn.
Suppose 100 yards of linen, the product of the weaver, represent the
same quantity of labor-time. Inasmuch as these two products represent
equal quantities of universal labor-time and, hence, are equivalents of
_every_ use-value which contains the same amount of labor-time, they
are also equivalent to each other. Only because the labor-time of the
spinner and that of the weaver take the form of universal labor-time
and their products appear as universal equivalents, is the labor of
the weaver realized for the spinner, and that of the spinner, for the
weaver, the labor of one takes the place of the labor of the other, i.
e., the social character of their labors is realized for both. Quite
different it was under the patriarchal system of production, when
spinner and weaver lived under the same roof, when the female members
of the family did the spinning, and the male members did the weaving to
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