Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Help with Karl Marx's theory of "The Production of Surplus Value"

4thTimeLucky · 05-02-2003, 04:26 PM

Chug

I haven't read the article (I am about to), but have done a little Marx.

Basically (and please feel free to correct me here anyone):
- A normal company should make enough money to pay for the costs of production (wages, materials, investment, fixed overheads etc.)
- But the capitalist bourgeoisie scum (sorry, got carried away there) aren't interested in just that. Oh no, they want profits (or supernormal profits, I forget which).
- There are essentially three ways that you can make profit:
1. Charge a 'fake' value for your goods (a shoe has inputs to the value of $x and you charge $x+1).
2. Have a technological advantage over competition that saves you money (you charge $x like everyone else, but your costs are $x-1)
3. You do not pay the workers the full amount of their value added to the product (i.e. a worker contributes $y of input into the product, but you pay them $y-2). This 2 is the surplus value.
- Marx argues that fake values and technology advantages do not (or rarely) exist. The real source of profit is stealing surplus value.

Example
Shoe production requires $15 for materials, $10 for fixed costs (rent, lighting etc.), $2 for the owner's wage and $1 for the workers wage. Total: $28.
The shoe is sold for $30.
But where has the extra $2 come from?
The answer isn't that you are charging a fake value. The shoe really does have $30 worth of inputs. The answer is that the workers in fact contributed $3 worth of labour, but were paid for just $1 worth. The other inputs have unambigious market values and the owner wouldn't underpay himself. So the reason that the owner ends up with $2 of wages and $2 of profit is that they have exploited the workers by taking the surplus value.

I will read the article and edit this post to change bits which might be incorrect or add clarifiers.

05-02-2003, 04:26 PM	#12 (permalink)
4thTimeLucky Psycho Location: 4th has left the building - goodbye folks	Chug I haven't read the article (I am about to), but have done a little Marx. Basically (and please feel free to correct me here anyone): - A normal company should make enough money to pay for the costs of production (wages, materials, investment, fixed overheads etc.) - But the capitalist bourgeoisie scum (sorry, got carried away there) aren't interested in just that. Oh no, they want profits (or supernormal profits, I forget which). - There are essentially three ways that you can make profit: 1. Charge a 'fake' value for your goods (a shoe has inputs to the value of $x and you charge $x+1). 2. Have a technological advantage over competition that saves you money (you charge $x like everyone else, but your costs are $x-1) 3. You do not pay the workers the full amount of their value added to the product (i.e. a worker contributes $y of input into the product, but you pay them $y-2). This 2 is the surplus value. - Marx argues that fake values and technology advantages do not (or rarely) exist. The real source of profit is stealing surplus value. Example Shoe production requires $15 for materials, $10 for fixed costs (rent, lighting etc.), $2 for the owner's wage and $1 for the workers wage. Total: $28. The shoe is sold for $30. But where has the extra $2 come from? The answer isn't that you are charging a fake value. The shoe really does have $30 worth of inputs. The answer is that the workers in fact contributed $3 worth of labour, but were paid for just $1 worth. The other inputs have unambigious market values and the owner wouldn't underpay himself. So the reason that the owner ends up with $2 of wages and $2 of profit is that they have exploited the workers by taking the surplus value. I will read the article and edit this post to change bits which might be incorrect or add clarifiers. __________________ I've been 4thTimeLucky, you've been great. Goodnight and God bless! Last edited by 4thTimeLucky; 05-02-2003 at 04:30 PM..