- 10 Jul 2016 00:51
#14700079
Hi, and thanks for any responses to my question.
I'm reading Marx's Critique of Political Economy, and I'm having trouble understanding exactly what he's saying. In the first chapter he writes,
"Only by being alienated as use-value - which depends upon whether it proves to be in the process of exchange the object of a certain want - does the commodity actually transform its existence as coffee into the existence as linen and thus takes on the form of a universal equivalent and becomes, indeed, an exchange value for all other commodities."
What does he mean by "alienated"? Is he saying that by commodifying the products of labor, the balance between their utility and their expense (labor-time cost) is upset?
Thanks for any insight/guidance!
I'm reading Marx's Critique of Political Economy, and I'm having trouble understanding exactly what he's saying. In the first chapter he writes,
"Only by being alienated as use-value - which depends upon whether it proves to be in the process of exchange the object of a certain want - does the commodity actually transform its existence as coffee into the existence as linen and thus takes on the form of a universal equivalent and becomes, indeed, an exchange value for all other commodities."
What does he mean by "alienated"? Is he saying that by commodifying the products of labor, the balance between their utility and their expense (labor-time cost) is upset?
Thanks for any insight/guidance!