Sociological Theories of Karl Marx - Essay Example

Sociology Marx, Sociology Karl Marx is one the historical theorist who developed the idea of commodity and the value attached to it. Karl Marx defined a commodity as a unique object that has properties that can satisfy specific human wants in the society. He draws a close relationship between the unique objects which he calls a commodity and the value that they possess as he believes that the only way to understand the commodity is by understanding the value property of these objects. Any product that successfully satisfies the human wants has both the quality and the quantity dimensions that make them different. In addition, Marx perceives a commodity as a good or service that can be exchanged within a market or as an object of trade. While he feels the value aspect of the commodity must be understood for an effective definition, he feels that fetishism of a commodity is another crucial element that makes a complex matter to understand. The fetishism property of a commodity conceals much information that requires to be revealed if the commodity is to be understood. Marx expresses products as unique products that can only be understood if their forms of value are well understood (302). One form of value that he identified is the use value of a product or service that makes that product makes that product a useful thing. The utility of a product is the property that makes it have a use value in the business environment and makes desirable in the society. The fact that a product has the ability to satisfy unique needs of the human beings makes it be demanded for that purpose. At this point he states that the use value of a product cannot be measured and can only be identified while it’s consumed by the human beings. The wealth of a society is attached to the use value of a good which is of a qualitative nature. Another form of value that Marx presents is the exchange value of a commodity that drives trade in the society. The exchange value is the measurable property of a product that can allow it to be exchanged in the market. Every product can be expressed in definite quantities and these units can be used to help the people to exchange the goods. For instance, 5 units of gold can be exchanged for 10 units of silver and the same way 4 units of diamond can be exchanged for a thousand units of iron. However, the exchange value of a commodity is a complex matter that cannot be determined by just looking at the product but requires its relation with another product. The exchange value is attached to the physical quantitative value of a product rather than the qualitative aspect that defines the use value. Marx (303) proceeds to develop the idea that the exchange value of a commodity is the expression or the formulae that relates two commodities in the market. Marx defines value as if it is an independent property from both use value and the exchange value of a product. He states that the value of a product is related to the amount of labor time and skills that are necessary to produce the commodity. While labor may be invested, it is still possible to produce no value especially if the commodity so produced is meant for personal use. The value of a commodity is determined by its usefulness to the society rather than the person who produces. Additionally, the value of a product is not constant and is inclined to vary. At this point he draws a relationship between the value of a product and its use value. When a product has a value attached to it, it has to have a use value for it to qualify as a worthy commodity in the market. In this perspective, the value, use value and the exchange value of a product are unique properties that can be synthesized separately yet they are conjoined to define a commodity in trade. Marx also drew an imperative relationship between labor and the value of a product in the society. Labor is the effort utilized to produce a commodity and the fact that it is variable in nature the value of a commodity a variable. In a capitalist society, the amount of labor used to produce a commodity such as linen will be higher than that used to produce the thread. Consequently, the value of linen will be higher than that of the thread in the trade market due to the direct correlation between labor and the respective value of a product. On the other hand, the value of a coat and 20 yards of linen is the same as the two require the same amount of labor. The nature of this kind of labor and its utility in the production of commodities is what Marx calls the dual nature of labor embodied in commodities (304-305). Next, Marx makes a connection between the forms of value and the social determination of their worthiness in the society. The value of a product cannot be stated explicitly without evaluating the amount of labor that is invested in its production. In a natural social system, the value of products will be attached depending on the time and amount of labor invested in the production stage. Assigning a quantitative value to a product is what makes the product to have some exchange value that can facilitate its use in trade. While a commodity will be exchanged for a certain quantity of one product, it will be exchange for some other units of a different product. For instance, if 10 yards of lines are exchanged for 1 coat, they may be exchanged for 5 pieces of iron. By writing an expression to show this relationship, Marx introduces the concept of the general form of value in trade. In his development of the equivalent and relative characteristics of products, he points out that “the equivalent has no relative form of value in common with other commodities; its value is rather, expressed in the infinite series of all other physical quantities (306). The implication of Marx’s statement is that one product can be equated to any other product with varying quantitative measurement of the other products. In this respect, one commodity can be used as a medium of trade as all other commodities can be expressed in some relative quantity values of this good. The idea of Marx that one medium can be used independently as a medium of trade brings about the development of a new parameter of trade. For instance, if all goods were expressed in terms of some quantity of gold, then it would be possible for all human beings to engage in trade and utilize gold as a medium for exchange. At this juncture, Marx explains the shift to the money form and its use as a medium of exchange. Now that all goods can be expressed in terms one good, then it would be possible to appreciate this central good as the money or a medium of universal exchangeability (320-325). He draws a relationship that if numerous commodities be equated with 20 yards of linen, and that this line can be equated to 2 pounds of gold, then it is possible to convert all these quantities into money form. The implication of this is that a product that was initially in the general form can be converted into a money form for a universally appreciated medium. Marxist (373-378) defined the complex nature of a commodity that makes it important to go beyond the understanding of the value of a commodity. Naturally, human beings have learned to associate commodities with some intrinsic value that they can identify in the social spheres. In essence, the commodities are exchanged in the market where money is the ideal measure of the qualitative and quantitative value of a product. In the market it becomes a complex matter to determine or measure the value of goods. As previously stated labor is the only aspect of the production of that can be utilized in measuring the value of a product. A commodity that requires more labor has a higher value than that which requires less (400). However, in the market it becomes a complex matter to determine the value of a product as there exists no specific measure of the labor used in producing a commodity. Therefore, understanding the value of a product is not adequate enough to define the worthiness of a commodity. To explain how exchange of products works in the market, Marx engages a superstitious phenomenon of the market forces that set up the prices and value of commodities. He constructs the idea that commodities are “fetish” in nature and that they seem to be controlled by some superstitious forces that are generally accepted as true without any substantial ground (395). The term fetishism refers to a believe that people adopts by faith without necessarily having any ground to support those beliefs. In the socioeconomic status where people are fixated with money, the market prices are determined by believing the people have on the value of goods. The people have naturally attached the value of goods at some price and it is these believe that they apply while exchanging goods in the market. Consequently, in reality the people do not measure the value of commodities by the amount of labor that they have invested in. Some goods are generally accepted as more valuable than others and this form the market norms in the environments. According to Marx, it is capitalism that underpins the fetish nature of commodities in the exchange market. The capitalist takes a role to propel the prices of goods in the market to their advantage. The assign goods value and make people believe in this allowing them to be exploited in the exchange environment. The value of goods does not add up to the cost or the amount of labor that is supposed to determine the true value of goods. At this point Marx is critical about capitalism and seems to point out that the capitalistic influence in the market is a disfavor to the producers of commodities (418). The fetish characteristic of commodities conceals the true value of identity of goods in the market. The greed of the capitalists considerably affects the market conditions reducing the product worth the producers lose the value of their products. Money being a medium of exchange of the social political business environment, the equivalence of goods becomes more variable. This is what Marx figures out as the force of suppression of the trade terms in the business market as the exchange value is negatively impacted. To reveal the real value of a commodity, Marx suggests that the people must have a better control of the market behavior. He suggests that in exchange, the producers should perceive trades not as mere operations but as some of form of contract that binds them together in the society. The producers as the owners of the property must attach some value to their products in order to gain better market control and suppress the power of the capitalist that undermines the value of goods (420-438). The use value of an item must be realized before the buyer of an item is able to utilize the desired good. Attaching the use value to their commodities, the producers can be able to obtain the real value of their products. When both the buyer and the seller engage in exchange, the sue value and the exchange values will be realized. As the buyer pay for the use value of their product, they satisfy their needs while the seller receives a reward for the labor that they invested in the production process. In conclusion, Karl Marx expressed the nature of a commodity and the value that is attached to it in the market. Being a good or service that satisfies the wants of a human being, a commodity has some value attached to it. The concepts of value, use value and exchange value are separable yet coherent terms that define the worthiness of a product. While the use value is qualitative, the exchange value is quantitative and can be measured by the value of the labor invested in it. Resultantly, commodities can be expressed in proportion to one another depending on the nature of the labor invested in their production. Also, they can be expressed as equivalent to one relative product and this makes them subject to a common form of value such as gold or money. This marks the transition from the general form to the money from where all goods are related to one unique commodity. However, Marx notes that the market is the influence of superstitious forces the dictate the value of the product and the products end up losing their real value. The only way to obtain the real value of products is by getting a better control of the market by perceiving trade as some of the contract that must satisfy both the seller and the buyer. Works Cited Marx, Karl. Capital Volume One: A Critique of Political Economy. New York: Dover Publications. 2012. Print. Read More