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Marx begins his analysis with what he calls the “commodity.” Marx explains that the commodity is something independent of ourselves that meets a human want or need of any kind. It is clear that Marx is not concerned with why people buy commodities, only that people buying commodities is inevitable. Marx explains that the commodity has something called a “use-value.” The use-value is determined by how useful the commodity is. The actual use-value, however, is intangible. He explains that use-value can only be determined “in use or consumption”. After determining the use-value of the commodity, something called an “exchange-value” is then derived from it when the commodity is exchanged. He explains this as the quantity of other commodities that it will exchange for. He gives the example of corn and iron. No matter their relationship, there will always be an equation where a certain amount of corn will exchange for a certain amount of iron. He sets up this example to say that all commodities are in essence parallel in that they can always be exchanged for certain quantities of other commodities. He also explains that one cannot determine the exchange-value of the commodity simply by looking at it or examining it. The exchange-value is not material. In order to determine the exchange-value, one must see the commodity being exchanged with other commodities. Marx explains that these two aspects of commodities are at the same time separate but also connected in that one cannot be discussed without the other. Marx explains that while the use-value of something can only change in quality, the exchange-value can only change in quantity.
Marx then goes on to explain that the exchange-value of a commodity is merely a portrayal of its value. Value is what connects all commodities so that they can all be exchanged with each other. The value of a commodity is determined by its socially necessary labor time, defined as “the labour time required to produce any use-value under the conditions of production, normal for a given society and with the average degree of skill and intensity of labor prevalent in that society.” Therefore, Marx explains, the value of a commodity does not stay constant as it advances or it varies in labor productivity, which may occur for many reasons. However, value does not mean anything unless it conjoins back to use value. If a commodity is produced and no one wants it or it has no use, then “the labour does not count as labour,” and therefore it has no value. He also says that one can produce use-value without being a commodity. If one produces a commodity solely for his own benefit or need, he has produced use-value but no commodity. Value can only be derived when the commodity has use-value for others. Marx calls this social use-value. He writes all of this to explain that all aspects of the commodity (use-value, exchange-value, and value) are all separate from each other, but are also essentially connected to each other.
[edit] Section 2. The Dual Character of the Labour Embodied in Commodities
Marx discusses the relationship between labor and value. Marx states if there is a change in the quantity of labor expended to produce an article, the value of the article will change. This is a direct correlation. Marx gives as an example the value of linen versus cloth to explain the worth of each commodity in a capitalist society. Linen is hypothetically twice as valuable as thread because more socially necessary labor time was used to create it. Use-value of every commodity is produced by useful labor. Use-value measures the actual usefulness of a commodity, whereas value is a measurement of exchange value. Objectively speaking, linen and thread have some value. Different forms of labor create different kinds of use-values. The value of the different use-values created by different types of labor can be compared because both are expenditures of human labor. One coat and ten yards of linen take the same amount of socially necessary labor time to make, so they have the same value.
[edit] Section 3. The Value-Form or Exchange-Value
[edit] (a) The Simple, Isolated, or Accidental Form of Value
In this chapter Marx explains that commodities come in double form: natural form and value form. We don't know commodities' value until we know how much human labor was put in it. Commodities are traded for one another after their values are decided socially. Then there is value-relation, which lets us trade between different kind of commodities. Marx explains value without using money. Marx uses 20 yards of linen and a coat to show the value of each other (20 yards of linen = 1 coat, or 20 yards of linen are worth 1 coat). Marx calls this an equivalent form. He adds that comparing 20 yards of linen to itself (20 yards of linen = 20 yards of linen, or 20 yards of linen are worth 20 yards of linen) is meaningless, because there is no expression of value. Linen is an object of utility whose value cannot be determined until it is compared to another commodity. Determining the value of a commodity depends on its position in the expression value.[clarification needed - final sentences very choppy]
[edit] (b) The Total or Expanded Form of Value
Marx begins this section with an equation for the expanded form of value: "z commodity A = u commodity B or = v commodity C or = w commodity D or = x commodity E or = etc." where the lower case letters (z, u,v, w, and x) represent quantities of a commodity and upper case letters (A, B,C,D, and E) represent specific commodities so that an example of this could be: "20 yards of linen = 1 coat or = 10 lb. tea or = 40 lb. coffee or = 1 quarter of corn or = 2 ounces of gold or = ½ ton of iron or = etc."[3] Marx explains that with this example of the expanded form of value the linen “is now expressed in terms of innumerable other members of the world of commodities. Every other commodity now becomes a mirror of linen’s value.”[3] At this point, the particular use-value of linen becomes unimportant, but rather it is the magnitude of value (determined by socially necessary labor time) possessed in a quantity of linen which determines its exchange with other commodities. This chain of particular kinds (different commodities) of values is endless: it contains every commodity and changes constantly as new commodities come into being.
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