askchapo

22752 readers

316 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

Posts must ask a question.
If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.
Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.
Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Is the Labor Theory of Value junk? (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

There’s this new video by a good YouTuber - Value by Unlearning Economics. There was also an article by Ben Burgis for the Jacobin which argued the same.

Is it possible, as both these people argue, to separate Marx’s critique of capitalism from his theory of value? To keep the former and discard the latter?

Edit - I’m not siding with the video or with Burgis, btw. I think Marx’s value theory is correct. I’m just looking for people who can shine some light on this new(?) phenomena of leftists speaking out against LTV while trying “save” Marx’s critique of capital. To me, that just seems like a pointless and hopeless endeavour.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

In my experience 90% of the people who claim to have "debunked" the LTV are conflating value with price.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Every single one I've ever had it out with quite literally made arguments addressed by Marx in the very first chapter of Capital.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Many such cases

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Maybe a half dozen, although two were actually the same person on different platforms who didn't realize they were arguing with me twice. That one was a shame though, because they were the face in my Shadowrun game for a solid year and I liked them as a person, even though they have terminal chauvinist brainworms.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

True.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

As far as I understand it, value vs price is like capital vs money, they're closely related but they're not the same thing at all