Date: 15 Jan 97 03:16:47 EST From: Chris Burford <100423.2040-AT-compuserve.com> Subject: M-PSY: Subjective value I was very impressed by Russell's post. Not only wearing Ray-Bans several years before Tom Cruise but with a sound dialectical materialist reason for doing so! But furthermore for the reply on subjective value which certainly helped me take a step forward. Asssuming Russell's description of the subjective theory of marginal cost neo-classical economists is correct, they are muddling up two aspects of the marxist theory of value which both have a subjective component, and they are doing it in a superficial, vulgar way. It is true that society tries various activities, and shifts in its taste for different commodities as a result of a total of subjective estimates of what people want as a use value. That may be influenced by all sorts of things including advertising. Or the experience say of a friend who has spent a significant amount of her income for two years on psychotherapy and has found it valuable (as a use value). But the core of the marxist theory of exchange value, is that it exists not as a material entity but within the interactions of the whole society, of course mediated by people's psychological interactions, and related to the total distribution of the labour power of that society among the various commodity producing activities of that society. It is therefore a psycho-social emergent property of commodity exchange. It really exists, but not materially. That should not be confused with the subjective social fashions that shape relative shifts in the perception of the use-value of various commodities or services. Sorry, have not been able to digest your post yet, Ilan, will probably comment later. Chris Burford London. --- from list marxism-psych-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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