Absolute and Relative Surplus Value – Seminar

In humourrn- mean solar daylight genial science, the belief of nurse has attained currency in much(prenominal) disciplines like Economics, Sociology, Political science etc. in these disciplines, judge is considered as those essentials needed by members of a society. It is further seen as scarce resources prosecute by competing groups. pass judgment in political economy, basic twainy refers to that portion that creates wealth or the so called reward for the risk taker, the entrepreneur.In other words, hold dear refers to that free fatigue of the role player which the uppercaseistic pockets or recapitalizes. It should be noted that, the concept of abide by is an integral part of the grasp performance in general, capitalistic commodity performance, wear and tear of the on the job(p) build and of course class antagonism. In essence, the concept of hold dear (Absolute and Relative) enkindlenot be understood without recourse to the mode of vary orderion that br ings it about as well as the nature of genial relations of production.Under capitalism, craunch personnel hold ups a commodity and like either commodity, it has its place and use observe. The shelter of any commodity like labor party government agency is determined by the expenditure of social trade union movement on its production and comeback. Therefore, overplus cling to is derived from spargon trade union movement of a worker. The worker creates a pass judgment which the owner of the nub of production appropriates without compensation. Marxs dassie Capital not only revealed the exploitation surrounding the extraction of pleonastic value, he as well revealed the degree and ratio of exploitation involving the advertize authority of the workers.In this room, he maintained that that excessiveness value stomach be categorized into Absolute and Relative. With this, Marx gives an analogy of how the value of restriction fountain is used in extending capital. A school master is a plentiful wear or his promote power becomes of value when he finds himself in a school factory, that he must ensure that teaching and non-teaching staffs become productive as to ensure not only the preservation of capital assets of the owner of the means of production but that they produce b ar value that exceeds the rate of hiring them.Beyond this, Marx situated the social relations of production in historic context which has keepd to associate the worker and profusion value creation. From the foregoing, capitalist exploitation of the apprehend power of workers ordure be looked at from cardinal angles the first be the production of Absolute pointless value which becomes practical in the teleph iodin extension of the working day. In other words, to Marx, Absolute intemperance value is obtained by profit the amount of season worked per worker in a given clock.From peerless stand point, any distinction surrounded by Absolute and Relative spare value appears illusory. Relative profusion value is Absolute since it compels the coercive prolongation of the working day beyond the push cadence necessary to the existence of the gob himself While Absolute overabundance value is congeneric since it makes necessary such a development of the productivity of advertize, as will allow of the necessary churn time being confined to a portion of the working day.The second way of change magnitude the degree of the exploitation of labour power through the sexual intercourse profusion value which is derived by a drop-off of the necessary labour time without any varys in the working day. For Marx, it is possible to reduce the labour time primarily by increasing social labour productivity in branches producing means of subsistence for the workers. Consequently, twain the Absolute and Relative surplus value are delimitate within the logic of the establishment of capitalism which perpetually subjects labour to capital.Again, Mar x tries to highlight the differences between the Absolute and Relative surplus value, which he theorises is defined with the establishment of the capitalist mode of production that is it is the prolongation of the working day beyond the point at which the labourer would have produced just an combining weight for the value of his labour power, and the appropriation of that surplus labour by capital. Although, as a special method of reducing relative surplus value, he continues capitalist industries get operated by by the army of workers themselves with the ultimate pack of ensuring the revolution of the entire capitalist production.It is with regard to the forgoing, that the author presupposes that when the above dickens conditions that creates surplus value for the capitalists are absent or when the labour spends all his labour time for the reproduction of himself, then the cycle of capital reproduction is obstructed and class division disappears. However, Marx goes on to say t hat the increasing complexness of the call for of society has correspondingly join ond the absolute and relative surplus value extracted in the process of production.Regarding the origin of surplus value and labour power from its engagement, Marx is of the opinion that it was influenced under ii conditions The first being the subsistence of workers when mans gathered natural wealth for subsistence. The second is market conditions when market production got underway, instruments of labour such as navigable rivers, wood, coal, metal etc became important in the capitalist production of goods and services. Inhering from the consequence of commercial production is the issue of climatical change which is caused the excessive demand for consumer goods.So, the lesser the natural wants of man the greater the fertility of the soil and the suitable climatic conditions and ultimately, the less impoverished the labourer. From the foregoing, the capitalist mode of production, according to M arx, thrives on mans assertiveness on the wealth of nature. The differentiation of the fertility of the soil and its components such as the changes of the seasons informs social division of labour in societies and by extension multiplied homo wants, his capabilities, means of production and surplus value. t therefore follows that human labour is the only source of new economic value since it is indispensable for the saving and transfer economic value (maintenance and redistribution of capital assets). In other words, the strength of the capitalist to manipulate the surplus labour time in wander to produce surplus product is the starting point for the extraction of surplus value. Bourgeois economists such as David Ricardo did not see surplus value as the driving force behind the productiveness of labour instead as an essential part of labour production that determines surplus value.Again, this dupe of the Bourgeois scholars contrasts from that of the merchantilists which believ e that surplus value originates from the aspect of exchange of the labour product above its original value. Another, bourgeois scholar with yet another(prenominal) perspective is John Stuart Mill who sees surplus value as inhering from the duration of the product of labour. In other words, Mill believed surplus value go off still be made without the exchange value of commodities. But, in reality, surplus value cannister be derived from subtracting the total expenditure made in the process of production and exchange from the final expenditure of the commodity. redundance value is in fact the main goal and the driving force of capitalist production. It is in like manner important to note that it is on the basis of the engagement of labour power that surplus value is extracted. Since capital needs a steady track down of labour power to preserve the capital assets and provide surplus value, it is where the mystery story of capitalist exploitation lies, it becomes pertinent to exam ine the views of Karl Marx on the following wedge shape themes CHANGES OF MAGNITUDE INTHE PRICE OF LABOUR POWER AND IN SURPLUS treasure Labour power is determined by the expenditure of social labour on its production and reproduction. In other words, in arrangement to dwell and work, a worker has to have food, clothes, housing, etc , in order to meet his needs and fulfill his role as a member of society. Essentially, for Marx, there are triplet important factors that determine the value of labour power i.The value of the necessaries required by the worker ii. The expenses involved in skills acquisition of the labourer iii. The value of the means of subsistence required to maintain the workers family. In addition, labour power has a specific use value which no other commodity possesses. For example, the use value of commodities such as bread, clothes, footwear, compose materials, etc is fully used up in the process of consumption duration the use value of labour power has the capacity to produce more than than value than it has itself.This also constitutes the cradle of capitalist exploitation and appropriation of surplus value. It is based o the above premise that Marx underscores that the Relative order of magnitudes of surplus value and of equipment casualty of labour power are determined by triad circumstances a. The length of the working day b. The normal intensity of labour c. The productiveness of labour The above factors or circumstances could variously be combined. One of the three factors could be aeonian and the others variable or two constant and one variable or lastly all three simultaneously variable.The following analogy further explains the various combinations that determine the relative magnitudes of surplus value and the value of labour power LENGTH OF THE functional DAY AND INTENSITY OF LABOUR CONSTANT. PRODUCTIVENESS OF LABOUR variable The above assumptions are determined by three laws First, a working day of a given length always creates the like amount of value, disregarding of the productiveness of labour and with it the softwood of the product and the price of each of the product whitethorn vary.What the capitalist would do in this circumstance in order to extract surplus value is to divide the working day into two parts The first is the necessary labour time and the other is surplus labour time. The capitalist maximizes the utility of the surplus labour time in which time the worker expends surplus labour and creates surplus value. Again, Marx added that the outcome of labour process varies with the productiveness of labour. Second, surplus value and the value of labour power vary in opposite directions.A variation in the productiveness of labour, its increase or lessening influence the variation in the opposite direction of the value of labour power and in the like direction in surplus value. In other words, the capitalists through the intensity of labour can reduce the value of labour powe r, while at the same time increase their extraction of surplus value. Further, the value of labour power cannot string up and consequently surplus value cannot rise without a rise in the productiveness of labour.For instance, a working day of seven hours created a value of 10,000 as a constant. The constant quantity is the sum of the surplus value plus the value of labour power therefore, neither of them can increase without the other diminish. It then follows that the value of the labour power cannot decrease from 10,000 to 8,000 unless an increase in the productiveness of labour makes it possible to produce in v hours the same quantity of necessaries as previously required in 7 hours to produce.On the other hand, the value of the labour power cannot rise from 10,000 to 12,000 without a decrease in the productiveness of labour, whereby 9 hours become sufficient to produce the same quantity of necessaries for the production of which 7 hours previously sufficed. Third, increase or decline in surplus value depends on the corresponding diminution or increase in the value of labour power. Every change of magnitude in surplus value arises from an inverse change of magnitude in the value of labour power.According to this third law, a change in the magnitude of surplus value presupposes a movement in the value of labour power, which movement is brought about by a variation in the productiveness of labour. works DAY CONSTANT. PRODUCTIVENESS OF LABOUR CONSTANT. INTENSITY OF LABOUR VARIABLE In this case, increased intensity of labour in a constant working day of 7 hours will amount to more products than one of less intense labour. point of intersectioniveness of labour will also settlement in more products in a given day of 7 hours.Evidently, the mass of surplus value can be increased both by increasing the rate of the exploitation of labour power and by increasing the public figure of wage workers. In addition, the reduction of the value of the workers means of subsistence and consequently the value of labour power or a reduction of the necessary labour time and increase in the surplus labour time can generate surplus value in the process of capitalist production. Again, technology increases surplus value at the expense of labour power.In fact, capitalism as a social system puts all the achievements of the technological progress at the service of non-working, parasitic classes and dooms the working class to mendicancy and rightlessness. Machines serve to intensify the exploitation of labour and wear out the human organism at a faster pace. When the value created by a days labour increases from 8,000 to 10,000, then the two parts into which this value is divided, ie price of labour power and surplus value may both increase simultaneously, equally or unequally.Here, the rise in the price of labour power does not necessarily imply that the price has lift above the value of labour power. On the contrary, the rise in price may be accompanie d by a fall in value. This occurs whenever the rise in the price of labour power does not redress for its increased wear and tear. PRODUCTIVENESS AND INTENSITY OF LABOUR CONSTANT. LENGTH OF THE WORKING DAY VARIABLE The length of the working day creates a greater or less amount of value. In addition, every change between the magnitudes of surplus value and the value of labour power arises from a change in the absolute magnitudes of the surplus labour.Furthermore, the absolute value of labour can change only in consequence of the reaction exercised by the prolongation of surplus labour upon the wear and tear of labour power. From the foregoing, one can conclude that A cut of the working day under the conditions deviation the value of labour power and its necessary labour time unchanged it then reduces the surplus labour and surplus value. A change in the productiveness and intensity of labour either precedes or immediately follows a shortening of the working day.Second, if the wor king day be lengthened say 2 hours and the price of labour power remain altered the surplus value increases both absolutely and relatively. In other words, the change of relative magnitude in the value of labour power is the result of the change of absolute magnitude in surplus value. The point to be emphasise here is that the wear and tear of workers is not adequately compensated in Nigeria. SIMULTANEUOS VARIATIONS IN THE DURATION, PRODUCTIVENESS AND INTENSITY OF LABOUR The ifferent variations are capable of counteracting one another, either wholly or in part. In speaking of diminish productiveness of labour, it is in relation with those industries whose products takes care of the subsistence of the worker such as the fertility of the soil and the consequent dearness of its products like food, shelter, clothes, etc. In the latter case, should there be no change in the working day, the capitalists will experience a fall in surplus value because the price of the labour power requir ed for production would have increased.Therefore, with diminishing productiveness of labour and a simultaneous lengthening of the working day, the absolute magnitude of surplus value may continue unaltered, at the same time that its relative magnitude diminishes its relative magnitude may continue unchanged at the same time that its absolute magnitude increases both the absolute magnitude and relative magnitude may increase in so far as the duration of the working day is sufficient. On the other hand, the increasing productiveness of labour with a simultaneous shortening of the necessary labour time results in the relative surplus value.When the productiveness of labour is as a result of increasing social labour productivity in branches producing means of subsistence for the workers and their families, it serves to reduce the value of labour power and subsequently produces absolute and relative surplus value when the necessary labour time is reduced at the expense of the surplus lab our time. However, the more the productiveness of labour increases, the more can the working day be shortened and the more the working day is shortened , the more can the productiveness of labour increase.VARIOUS FORMULAE FOR THE RATE OF SURPLUS VALUE The rate of surplus value in production is defined by Marx as the bulk of surplus value produced by the workforce divided by the variable capital expended to produce a exorbitance value S = Surplus value = Surplus labour Variable capital V Value of labour power Necessary labour b. Surplus labour =Surplus value =Surplus product Working day Value of the Product Total ProductHere, the intensity and productiveness of labour embodied in a working day depicts the degree of exploitation of labour. The formula for the mass of surplus value (S) is = Sx V, where S is the rate of surplus value and V is the variable capital advanced for the remuneration of all the workers. Evidently, the mass of surplus can be increased both by increasing the ra te of the exploitation of labour power and by increasing the number of wage workers. Conclusion