File spoon-archives/marxism-intro.archive/marxism-intro_1997/97-02-04.192, message 131


Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 07:36:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Justin_Schwartz-AT-pseud.pseud
Subject: Re: M-INTRO: Abstract Labor



> Samantha -- 
> 
> 	I think that abstract human labor is simply how long it takes, on
> average and given the current technology, to produce a given item.  This

No, it's not. "How long, etc." is the measure of the magnitude of value.

> item does not need to be a commodity.  For example, it takes my wife 6
> hours to make her cinnamon rolls (with rising and baking and stuff).  It
> takes me 1 day (because I burn them, they don't rise, whatever.)  My
> little girl takes 3 days to make them because she plays with the dough
> and stuff and has the kitty help her. 

The point of Marx talking about "socially necessary" abstract labor time
in the discussion of value is precisely to abstract away from this sort of
variation. 


--jks




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