Date: Mon, 20 Nov 95 08:42:55 GMT
From: Chris Burford <cburford-AT-gn.apc.org>
Subject: Postone and value



On 16th Rakesh returned to the subject of Postone, with a number of 
quotations. 

Rakesh, I bought the book on your recommendation, and it seems 
broadly right, but I find the language and idiom unfamiliar and 
I cannot get into it. I would be grateful if you could respond to 
this post to help me check out whether your ideas are broadly in 
this same direction as mine, or are in conflict or at least divergent
on some points.

I skim Postone to read him as saying Marx is describing value as 
a social intangible ("abstract") phenomenon, and not just a "physiological"
addition of hours of standardised sweated labour.

BTW what does Postone mean by physiological?

As I tried to argue in a rather long piece picking up your 
emphasis on REproduction, I see Marxist exchange value as being as 
real as the complex system of social valuation that binds this email
list together. I see exchange value as the subset that emerges with
commodity production, of the total value of society created by all 
the interchanges of people for the reproduction of that society.

I find Postone's terminology rather idiosyncratic, but perhaps I am 
just ignorant of a whole range of literature. What is the importance of 
a formulation about "domination", and why is "time" important?

The formulations I have emphasised in this post from my point of view, 
are ones which IMO have the merit of translatability into the language
of anthropology, and psychology, and economics.

I would really appreciate if you could comment on what you find 
congruent and what causes you conceptual difficulties from your
point of view.

Regards,

Chris, London.




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