Subject: Reading Capital - Part I

Preface

p. 217 "The country that is more developed industrially only shows, to the less developed, the image of its own future." Is this view supported by the on going globalization of the economy?

p. 218 Societies "...can neither leap over the natural phases of its development nor remove them by decree. But it can shorten and lessen the birth pangs." Theoretical implications?

pp. 218 (bottom)-219 (top) This is an important statement about Marx's view on the systemic nature of classes. What does he mean when he states that individuals are the bearers of class relations? What kind of explanation for social patterns does he propose? Would Durkheim and Weber agree with him? Why?

Chapter I

Definition of commodities

Commodities are use values and, under certain conditions, they are also exchange values and values. Why? Explain.

Why is exchange value the form of appearance of value?

Why do use values have values?

How is the value of a commodity established?

What is socially necessary labor time?

What is the relationship between changes in the productivity of labor and the value of commodities?

Can things be use values without being values? Which? Why?

What is the twofold character of labor?

Why is the division of labor a necessary condition for commodity production?

Labor is a condition of human existence - explain

Is labor the only source of wealth?

The increase in the quantity of use values produced at a given time can be considered both as an increase in material wealth but as a decrease, simultaneously, of the value of of those use values - why?

What does Marx means by the fetishism of commodities, their mystical character? What are the social conditions necessary for the fetishism of commodities?

In the discussion of commodity fetishism Marx differentiates between the real relations among people and the reasons why these relations appear, in their eyes, as relations between the things they produce. In your studying of this section, keep your attention in the processes and relations that go on among the producers and the market relations observable between their products.

At the bottom of page 235 and in page 236, Marx applies the analysis of the fetishism of commodities to the social sciences. This is a very important section that shows the difference between Marx and other social scientists for whom, in his words, "reflection on the forms of human life, hence also the scientific analysis of those forms, takes a course directly opposite to their real development. Reflection begins post festum....." Use Marx's insights to assess whether or not Durkheim and Weber also begin "post festum."