In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different use-values get a common denominator in the form of money. Value has an objective form in the sense that certain quanta of abstract human labour are objectified in it on average. The exchange relationship that in capitalism is organized with the help of money, which acts as a general equivalent of exchange, constructs a unity in diversity.
In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different use-values get a common denominator in the form of money. Value has an objective form in the sense that certain quanta of abstract human labour are objectified in it on average. The exchange relationship that in capitalism is organized with the help of money, which acts as a general equivalent of exchange, constructs a unity in diversity.
In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different use-values get a common denominator in the form of money. Value has an objective form in the sense that certain quanta of abstract human labour are objectified in it on average. The exchange relationship that in capitalism is organized with the help of money, which acts as a general equivalent of exchange, constructs a unity in diversity.
In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different use-values get a common denominator in the form of money. Value has an objective form in the sense that certain quanta of abstract human labour are objectified in it on average. The exchange relationship that in capitalism is organized with the help of money, which acts as a general equivalent of exchange, constructs a unity in diversity.
In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different
use-values get a common denominator in the form of money (or another general equivalent of exchange) humans commodities money In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different use-values get a common denominator in the form of money (or another general equivalent of exchange): many things are getting united as a unity of diversity of commodities is created by the general form of value. Exchangevalue appears first of all as the quantitative relation, the proportion, in which use-values of one kind exchange for use-values of another kind (Marx 1867c, 126). Exchange-value is the necessary mode of expression, or form of appearance, of value (ibid., 128). In exchange, concrete use-values that satisfy human needs are set as equals.They are all different in that they satisfy differ ent human needs, but setting them as equals (x commodity A = y commodity B; or: x commodity = a units of money; y commodity B = a units of money) abstracts from this difference and constructs an equality by establishing an exchange relationship between two quantities of different commodities. The equalized commodities are considered to represent the same amount of value.The exchange relationship that in capitalism is organized with the help of money, which acts as a general equivalent of exchange, constructs a unity in diversity, a unity of th e different use-values of commodities. In the exchange process, commodities are re duced to that which they have in commonvalue.Value is the third commonality of commodities (Wolf 2008, 104). Commodities possess an objective character as values only in so far as they are all expressions of an identical social subs tance, human labour [. . .] their objective character as values is therefore purely soc ial (Marx 1867c, 138139). Value has an objective form in the sense that certain quanta of abstract human labour are objectified in it on average. This objectivity is social and societal because all commodities are products of human labour that is organized in society and the production process is itself a social process. But value is not only obj ective and in this objectivity societal, but it is also social as an exchange relations hip itself: In the exchange relationship x commodity A = y commodity B, the value of commodity A is expressed in the use-value of commodity B and the value of commodity B in the use-value of commodity A (Wolf 2002, 131). By means of the value-relation, therefore, the natural form of commodity B becomes the value-form of commodity A, in other words the physical body of commodity B becomes a mirror for the value of commodity A. Commodity A, then, in entering into a relation with commodity B as an object of value [Wertkrper], as a material ization of human labour, makes the use-value B into the material through which its own value is expressed. The value of commodity A, thus expressed in the use-value of commodity B, has the form of relative value (Marx 1867c, 144). If one says, for instance, one yard of linen is worth two pounds of coffee, then the exchange-value of linen is expressed in the use-value of coffee, and it is moreover expressed in a definite quantity of this use-value (Marx 1859). The contradiction between value and use-value of a commodity (the double character of a commodity as use-value and value that is created by concrete labour and abstract labour) is sublated in the form of the exchange value, that is, by the fact that the value of the commodity is expressed in the use-value of another commodi ty via the exchange relationship.Value has at the same time an objective and social form. Therefore Heinrichs attempt to ridicule those who argue that value exists in production and prior to exchange and the money form, as substantialist s and Ricardians that neglect the social form of value, is one-sided and does not see the double character of value. For Hegel (1830, 90), quality means Being with a character or mode. [. . .] And as reflected into itself in this its chara cter or mode, Determinate Being is a somewhat, as existent. Quantity is the exclusive unit, and the identification or equalisation of these units (ibid., 100).Quantity, essentially invested with the exclusionist character which it involves, is Quant um (or How Much): i.e. limited quantity (ibid., 101). The dialectical unity of Quantity and Quality is called the Measure. Measure is the qualitative quantum, in the first place as immediatea quantum, to which a determinate being or a quality is attached (ibid., 107). We measure, e.g. the length of different chords that have been put into a state of vibration, with an eye to the qualitative dif ference of the tones caused by their vibration, corresponding to this difference of length. Similarly, in chemistry, we try to ascertain the quantity of the matt ers brought into combination, in order to find out the measures or proportions condi tioning such combinations, that is to say, those quantities which give rise to definite qualities. In statistics, too, the numbers with which the study is engaged are important only from the qualitative results conditioned by them (ibid., 106). In the equation 1 computer = 500 ??, we have qualities of the economy (computer, money) that are present in certain quantities (1 computer, 500 units of money). In their exchange, we measure a relationship between the two commodities: a certain quantity (value) of one commodity is expressed in the use-value of the other.The next figure shows Hegels dialectic of quality, quantity and measure. It is followed by a figure that applies this dialectic to Marxs notions of use-value , value and exchange-value.