Value-form
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| Marxian critique of political economy |
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| Outline |
The value-form or form of value ("Wertform" in German) is an important concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy, discussed in the first chapter of Capital, Volume 1. It refers to the social form of tradeable things as units of value, which contrast with their tangible features, as objects which can satisfy human needs and wants or serve a useful purpose. The physical appearance or the price tag of a traded object may be directly observable, but the meaning of its social form (as an object of value) is not. Marx intended to correct errors by the classical economists in defining exchange, value, money and capital, by showing precisely how these economic categories evolved out of the development of trading relations.
Playfully narrating the "metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties" of ordinary things when they become instruments of trade, Marx provides a brief social morphology of value as such — what its substance really is, the forms which this substance takes, and how its magnitude is determined or expressed. He analyzes the evolution of the form of value in the first instance by considering the meaning of the value-relationship that exists between two quantities of traded objects. He then shows how, as the exchange process develops, it gives rise to the money-form - which facilitates trade, by providing standard units of exchange value. Lastly, he shows how the trade of commodities for money gives rise to investment capital. Tradeable wares, money and capital are historical preconditions for the emergence of the factory system (discussed in subsequent chapters of Capital, Volume 1). With the aid of wage labour, money can be converted into production capital, which creates new value that pays wages and generates profits, when the output of production is sold in markets.
The value-form concept has been the subject of numerous theoretical controversies among academics working in the Marxian tradition, giving rise to many different interpretations (see Criticism of value-form theory). Especially from the late 1960s and since the rediscovery of Isaac Rubin's Essays on Marx's theory of value, the theory of the value-form has been appraised by many Western Marxist scholars as well as by Frankfurt School theorists and Post-Marxist theorists. There has also been considerable discussion about the value-form concept by Japanese Marxian scholars.
The academic debates about Marx’s value-form idea often seem obscure, complicated or hyper-abstract. Nevertheless, they continue to have a theoretical importance for the foundations of economic theory and its critique. What position is taken on the issues involved, influences how the relationships of value, prices, money, labour and capital are understood. It will also influence how the historical evolution of trading systems is perceived, and how the reifying effects associated with commerce are interpreted.