Use-value SPARKNOTES: - A use-value is something that is valuable because it is useful. It can also be a measurement of the usefulness of a commodity. Labor-power - According to Marx, labor-power is "the aggregate of those mental and physical capabilities existing in the physical form, the living personality, of a human being, capabilities which he sets in motion whenever he produces a use-value of any kind." Means of production - The forces of production. This is comprised of the instruments of production (tools, machines, etc.), methods of working (skills, forms of cooperation, division of labor, etc.), and applied knowledge (science, etc.). Mode of production - The economic structure of society that defines people's mode of living. It consists of the means of production as well as the relations of production. Relations of production - Relations between people necessary for a certain form of material production. This is comprised of the distribution of the means of production, forms of possession (collective and individual private property), and distribution of the product. Marx argues that commodities have both a use-value and an exchange-value, and that their exchange-value is rooted in how much labor-power went into them. While traditionally people bought commodities in order to use them, capitalists use commodities differently. Their final goal is increased profit. Therefore, they put out money and buy commodities, in order to sell those commodities for a profit. The cycle then repeats itself. The reason why the capitalists are able to make a profit is that they only need to pay workers their value (how much it takes to keep them functional), but the workers produce more than that amount in a day. Thus, the workers are exploited. The capitalists are able to do this because they have more power, and control the means of production. Furthermore, the workers' character is negatively affected by the system. They don't own the products of their labor, and the repetitive work they have to do makes them little more than machines.
MARX (Harrison) Independent craftsmen producing goods for sale helped break up feudalism, but simple commodity production was from buying and selling Capitalism isn't commodity production because capitalism requires unequal or coercive relationships between people Historical materialism- historical because a society can only be understood in the context of history, materialistic because the theory takes pre-conditions for survival and thus the interaction between human beings and nature which satisfies them Production= human effort to transform nature into useful objects Social relations= interconnections between people Materialist methodology= historical development starting with the interaction between humans and nature for human survival
Level of development in productive forces = the extent to which a society develops its capacity to change nature Theory of historical materialism= the way production is organized determines the social character of all other institutions and it is concerned with the process of change Eventually organizing production become ineffective to human's control over nature and another economic system will develop 3 stages: 1. Production agricultural and rural, slavery and feudalism okay 2. Good produced for sale 3. Tyranny of market replaced, each works to his best and according to his needs Capitalism played a progressive role at first Marx welcomed class struggle Slavery: slave owners exploit because they own the producers, the purpose of productions is for use value, producers don't receive what they produce, Feudalism: landlords exploit the serfs who work on their land, the purpose of production is use value, producers don't receive what they produce Simple Commodity production: Artisans work and receive what they produce as individuals, there is free and equal exchange Capitalism: capitalists exploit the proletariat for use on their machines, goods reproduced for exchange value and producers don't see what they produce Socialism: Workers produce for use value for other workers, no one group has control over the elements of production Brenner: Social property Relations = relationship between direct producers, rulers/exploiters and producers, they Determine society's patterns of economic development and exist in every society Social property relations are maintained by political communities and are carried out by political actors Rules for reproduction are the strategies best suited for maintaining/improving individuals situation given the social-property relations Laws of Motion= Patterns of Societal economic development Feudalism: Peasant possession= they produce what they need to maintain themselves so that they don't have to buy anything on the market
Lordly surplus extraction by extra-economic coercion: lords secure income by applying or threatening force against peasants in non economic areas. They regulate justice, the police and the army Peasants produce for subsistence first because they seek to avoid the risks of the market and competition, although they would like to gain from trade Peasants don't have to exchange and don't have to adopt more effective production techniques, which provided a shield against competition Peasants were scared of specialization because it made them dependent on the market which makes the prospect of food uncertain and bad harvests can happen which would make their specialized good less likely to be bought if prices were high Everything in their lives becomes subordinate to profit making if they specialize. Peasants have lots of kids, marry early, and subdivide holding all of which put more strain on the land and therefore wouldn't work while trying to maximizing exchange value Lords: Political accumulation: buildup of the ability to redistribute social produce from peasants and other lords which leads to larger and more effective feudal states Individual lords can't free their peasants and then lease it out to commercial tenants because there is no market in tenants if there is subsistence Individual lords also can't increase their income through developing more effective production through peasant coercion because the peasants have little incentive to work hard because they already subsist Lords can't discipline peasants through firing because they own the means of subsistence, and coercing them costs resources for supervisors Individual lords must increase wealth by building up their size and politico-military effectiveness as a group (feudal state) This is forced on lords because feudalism is a multitude of competing lordly political communities The most effective way of increasing income is by taking it from tohers Lords open up new land and plant peasants on it who will provide them rent. Therefore as long as population and available land increase this is the favorable option for lords Developmental Patterns: Limited growth of agricultural productive forces follows from: non specialization of peasants (and therefore lack of improvement of technique) and lordly surpluses being used for military and luxury goods Population growth: Europe doubles from 1000 to 1300
With increasing population there can't be a maintenance of income, therefore cultivation must spread to new areas, which causes lords to lead colonizing enterprises into Spain and eastern Europe in the 11 th-13th centuries
Declining agricultural labor productivity: production must eventually spread to less fertile land and peasants will take this land and subdivide it. From there they try and subside, which puts more pressure on the soil and eventually leaves people with tiny holdings. Additionally for each person on the land, there will be less output With less output prices will rise Domestic market starts when peasants sell their surpluses, but this was usually limited because of their low productivity Feudal states grew larger and more complex as surplus extractors. Anglo-Norman states are unified and try to centralize from the 10th to 13th century. France also begins using centralized exactions (state taxation) to support the people around the monarchy. Lords must continue to grow so they must extract more Lords required to purchase military and luxury goods for their noble lifestyle and gain support from followers. This causes feudal states to grow more. Lordly demand is limited by peasant population (with declining agricultural labor productivity) which makes it harder to deal with peasants
Phase A: 1000-1300, constant productivity in manufacturing as food output per person declines. Ew land become less fertile and additional producers grows less food. This increases prices of food and manufacturing prices falls (relative to the cost of food) Phase B: 1300-1450, opposite of A Towns grow as lordly demand increases, but there still were not many that peasants. Northern Italy begins to grow as industrial center in the 10th century from the strengthening of feudal-property relations Malthusian overpopulations: declining output per person (from more people and worse land via overuse and smaller plots). Causes Great Famine 1315-1317 and Black Plague 1348-9 Seigneurial revenue crisis: fewer peasants means revenue declines. But since lords are in competition with one another lords increase levies on the remaining peasants. This in turn causes a shrink in peasant population and another increase in levies. This cycle occured until the 2 nd half of the 14th century as inrta-lordly warfare also killed many along with peasant revolts
Necessary conditions for the transition from feudalism to capitalism (within social-property relations): Undermining of feudal social-property relations of peasant possession and the end of lordly taking by extra-economic coercion. This leads to the end of extra economic coercion, and the rise of market dependent producers who are subject to competition and able to accumulate. This makes individual producers maximize price/cost ratio through: specialization, accumulation, innovation, and change in goods produced to ensure supply is in line with demand Individual producers are now free from lordly control (and extra-economic coercion). They no longer produce
for subsistence and therefore they buy what the need on the market. The conditions for capitalism emerge as an unintended consequence of feudal actors pursuing feudal rules for reproduction. Communities goals are the maintenance of social-property relations (peasant possession and lordly extra-economic coercion) and if they don't change the feudal rules for reproduction stay the same as well. Medieval Europe had a change in class relations because of lordly political accumulation, lordly expansion of area of settlement, and class struggle. Feudalism in Western Europe: Highly localized, decentralized, disunited lordly groups organized around an overlord who grants fiefs (land and rights to exact peasants product) and receives loyalty and military service. This emerged in the 10 th and 11th century with the ideas of castles and knights Feudalism is vulnerable to peasant resistance because of decentralization, intense inter-lordly competition, and availability (for a while) of uncultivated land Peasants resistance comes in the form of playing lords off against one another. This causes lords to fix peasants rent and the right to inherit Crisis of lordly revenue (France and western Germany) because of population growth, increasing cost of good and food, but lordly feudal rents are fixed. Feudalism in Eastern Europe: Areas of settlement expanded with the lordly rule of reproduction It was weaker than western Europe feudalism because the lords had to grant good conditions with feudal rents and rights to inherit just to occupy the land Lordly incomes in the region depended on population growth in Western movement which made peasants follow lords east England had unified lordship, but de-centralized extraction. Starting in Normandy, the lord class became unified and began battling Frankish lords as they moved across the channel Anglo-Norman lords develop a class organization around the overlord out of political competition. They have the idea of the vassal of my vassal is my vassal arrives (lords cede political authority to a king to create a cohesive group and a more powerful feudal state) and royal justice (common law) expands Rise of common law gives access to royal courts to all free men. However peasants aren't free, which allows the lords to have legal authority over the peasants. And since the lords united they can dominate the peasants. Therefore In the 12th and 13th century, lordly powers in England grew and they had great military success
France had unified lordship and centralized exaction (tax-office state): Many French lords were weakened from peasant resistance which decreased lordly revenues and increased lordly competition French kings bring lords into their entourage and both parties agree to support one another. The kings then
allow themselves to tax the peasants through officers (who are lords). This unified the ruling class around the monarchy as the king distributed wealth for service and loyalty. Taxes are centralized, so the lords can't be played off against one another Late Medieval crisis: Late medieval Malthusian crisis of lordly revenues caused new forms of class organization. They were a more coherent feudal state with greater lordly cohesiveness. In Eastern Europe: They were less developed and most decentralized lordly organization. War was everywhere in the 14th and 15th centuries, which made it difficult to dominate peasants. However at the end of the 15 th century, they established a league of lords (estates) at the provincial and national level for helping each other to dominate peasants. They returned runaway peasants to each other Western Europe: Tax-office state (absolutism) Lords of France experienced a Malthusian crisis and lordly revenue crisis with: Falling ratio of land to labor (not much land, lots of peasants), peasant flight, and peasant resistance. Centralized tax-office state grows rapidly out of warfare (100 years war 1340's to 1450's) which allowed offices to multiply and yield larger incomes. Then lordly domination of peasants is consolidated The rise also helped strengthen peasant property rights. The state wanted to be able to tax them, so local lords were limited. The monarchy recognized peasants tenure as property in land Phase A: population Driven growth (1450-16th century), expansion of settlement area. However declining labor productivity, rising food and land prices and falling industrial prices soon followed. Lordly revenues were taken more effectively by the lordly classes. This lead to more luxury and military production. Phase B: General Crisis of 17th century, population levels out, lordly response is war (30 years war) and intense taxation which leads to peasant revolts Transition of capitalism in England: the end of lordly exaction by extra-economic coercion and peasant possession in 2 phases. Initial lordly reaction to the population decline of black plague was cohesion and counter peasant attempts to take advantage of the situation. They maintained their rent for 30 years after the plague 1381-huge peasant revolt, eventually put down, but scared lords and monarch Peasants them went to other manors for better deals. Lords tried to entice peasants with better deals. Copyhold tenure develops which peasants received a copy of the manorial roll with the conditions under which they held the lord's land King's court upheld these agreements which made peasants free England: However copyholders held their land for a set time and were subject to fines anytime the land changed hands (even if through inheritance).
For 1450-1525 population was still low so the copyholders didn't have to pay high rents. But as population increased, the lords used the loopholes to their advantage and raised rents and fines. This increase helped the lords gain more power and especially in England it set up a strong government that could support property rights. Peasants in 1536-7 and 1548 revolted, but they failed to secure the right to inherit and fix fines. This was the opposite in France where lords and the monarchy supported peasant property rights. English lords tried to separate peasants from their land because they couldn't make extra-economic coercions. They wanted competitive commercial rents Feudalism to capitalism in English Agriculture: Emergence of agricultural producers who are free from extra-economic coercion, but now separated from means of subsistence (but they did own the means of production, I.e. tools). They became market dependent and had to deal with rent competition. This made them maximize price-cost ratios through specialization, accumulation, innovation, and movement of focus of goods Market dependency makes people maximize their goods price. People began marrying later because sub division hurt them and kids were a drain, causing smaller families. New patterns: People stopped producing for subsistence because diversification isn't cost efficient. Rise of agricultural labor productivity via competition End of Malthusian pattern where population outruns food supply Rise of domestic mass market, producers begin buying more Movement of population out of agricultural sector into industry. Which caused a rise in the domestic market and agricultural productivity Emergence of the proletariat: a class without subsistence or production, which caused many to lose means of production Growth of agricultural specialization by region because producers must use the land efficiently so competition caused better use of resources and geography