The Post-Industrial, Post-Modern Theory of Value and Surplus-Value:( Deconstructing the Marxist Fetishism of Scientifically Quantifiable Value and Labor-Power)
© Michel Luc Bellemare Ph. d. I
The nexus of Karl Marx’ s whole modern rational theory of value, i. e. the law of value, is predicated on the assumption that“ labor-power constantly creates value and surplus-value as long as it continues to function”[ 1 ], once embedded within the capitalist production process, according to the parameters set by what is socially necessary, namely, the average social labor-time and working conditions of a specific sphere of production. Only labor that is stationed in the organizational process of production, working for capital under the limits of what is deemed socially necessary by a particular industrial branch, is value creating. As Marx states“ labor-power counts as … value, but in the production process it [ is ] the creator of value”[ 2 ]. What this means is that labor-power is solely considered productive hardwired in production, functioning according to what is the average social necessity, concerning appropriate labor-time, for a particular sphere of production. For Marx, outside of production, labor is unproductive. It is imperative, according to Marx, that labor be immersed in capitalist production, regulated by the parameters of social necessity, i. e., socially determined necessary labor-time, in order to be productive. Socially necessary labor-time is the regulative mechanism that disciplines and regiments labor according to the acceptable social parameters derived from both public necessity and industry standards.
Ultimately, within Marx’ s modern rational theory of value, i. e., the law of value, labor-power is the source of all value, both value and surplus value. For Marx, value is something quantifiable, objective and finite, it can be scientifically measured in units and / or segments of time, namely“ value … is labortime”[ 3 ]; its magnitude is measured“ by means of the quantity of value forming substance, the labor, [ it ] contains; [ it is ]… labor-time … measured on the scale of … hours, days etc.”[ 4 ] As a result, value is, according to Marx,“ the expenditure of identical human labor-power”[ 5 ] over an identical period of time. In this regard,“ each unit [ of labor-power ] is the same as any other, to the extent that it has the character of a socially average unit of labor-power and acts as such”[ 6 ], value is identical units of labor-power expended over specific periods or segments of time. Consequently, from the Marxist perspective, value is something definite and scientifically quantifiable, it is something that can be scientifically measured in the sense that we can measure the exact labor-time socially necessary to manufacture a particular commodity. And for Marx, this scientifically measured labor-time, embodied in a commodity, is the basis of value, i. e. it is value itself. And being true to the scientific method, for Marx, value, which cannot be neatly translated into quantifiable labor-time, i. e. exact temporal units of labor-power, or specifically, a scientifically determined socially necessary labor-time, which governs a specific economic branch, is in the end not-value, it is unproductive. Marx’ s whole rational edifice of capital outlined in the rational theory of value, i. e. the law of value, laid-out in his three volumes, is grounded on this notion that value is scientifically quantifiable labor-time and nothing else.
However, value is non-material, it is incorporeal, it is always something that is mediated by something else, i. e. a commodity, money, labor, price etc. which serve the purpose, according to Marx, of representing and expressing value,“ value … is expressed by an imaginary quantity of the money commodity”[ 7 ]. Value is quantifiable and is visibly equated in monetary terms. For Marx, what commodities, money and workers represent is scientifically quantifiable exact measurements of laborpower, that is, quantifiable labor-time, which is as well simultaneously value, that is, labor-power = labortime = value, when embedded in production and conforming to parameters of socially necessary labor-