Appreciation (Marxism)

The appreciation (or sometimes overvalue ) is a concept forged by Karl Marx in its criticism of the economy political, and detailed in the Capital. Karl Marx takes again and supplements the theory of value classical economists (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, etc), according to whom the source of the exchange value of goods is the work which is built-in there.

In the theory of value of Marx, the appreciation has a precise significance: it is the difference between the quantity of added-value by work with the initial goods and the value of necessary work.

The problem of the explanation of the source of appreciation is expressed at Friedrich Engels as follows (Anti-Dühring):

" Which is the origin of this appreciation? It can neither come owing to the fact that the purchaser bought the goods below the value, nor owing to the fact that the salesman resold them above the value. Because, in both cases, the profits and the losses of each individual are compensated, since each one is purchaser and salesman in turn. It cannot come either from the fraud, since the fraud can undoubtedly enrich one at the expense of the other, but it cannot increase the total sum had by one and the other, either, consequently, that the sum of in general current assets. "

Marx itself considers the bond between profit, interest, revenue and appreciation, and that between appreciation and Surtravail like one of its greater theoretical conquests.

Necessary work and surtravail

In the Capitalist mode of production, the working time of the Prolétaire is divided into times of necessary work and time of surtravail. Necessary work is the work which the worker carries out to ensure the production and the reproduction of his own labor force, i.e. work that it is necessary for him to provide to satisfy his needs and to reproduce. The surtravail is completed work beyond the time of necessary work, therefore carried out free on behalf of the holder of the capital which buys the labor force.

According to the theory of the Value-work, human work is the only source of new exchange value, but it is also essential for the conservation and the transfer of the value.

Alive work, on a certain level of productivity, is able to create and transfer more value than one should not any to him to live; this is why the employer buys the labor force, in order to increase the value of the capital. The owner of the means of productions buys the labor force to a certain value, lower than the value of carried out total work. The surtravail is thus work not paid monopolized by the holder of the means of production in the form of product and working time. The function of the production work is only, for the capitalist, to transfer the value from the constant capital to the finished product, and to add value to him.

Constant and variable capital capital

The constant capital is the value of the means of production (buildings, machines, raw materials, etc). The variable capital is the value of the labor force concerned in the production.

The sum of the constant capital (C) and the variable capital (V) is equal to the advanced total capital for the production (K).

$K= C+V$

Definition of the appreciation

The appreciation is the Valeur Surtravail, i.e. work not paid achieved by the Travailleur for the Capitaliste, which is the base of the accumulation of the capital. This value is equal to the quantity of average work built-in the Surproduit, overproduces it being the component of the product resulting from the period of surtravail.

If W is the value of a product, one a:

$w = C + L = C + v + s$

where v are the value of the necessary work which is allocated to the worker. S is the appreciation. L is the total quantity of added-value to the object of work during the production. The value C, which corresponds to the consumption of constant capital during the unit of time considered, is only transferred during the process. It contains the depreciation of the means of production (machines, buildings, etc) as well as the value of the consumed basic commodities (raw materials, fuel, components, etc).

Part of the appreciation is consumed or thésaurisée by the Bourgeoisie. Another is reinvested in the process of valorization, which constitutes the accumulation of the capital.

Share appreciation

The appreciation, once extracted the surtravail, is then shared between the various actors of the capital.

" The appreciation, i.e. the part of the full value of the goods in which the surtravail is built-in, the unpaid work of the workman, I call it the profit. The profit is not empoché entire by the capitalist employer. The monopoly of the ground puts the landowner able to adapt part of the appreciation under the name of revenue, that the ground is employed with agriculture, buildings, railroads or any other productive end. In addition, the fact even as the possession of the instruments of work gives to the capitalist employer the possibility of producing an appreciation or, which returns to same, of adapting a certain quantity of unpaid work, allows to the owner means of work which lends them in entirety or partly to the capitalist employer, in a word, with the capitalist lender of money, of claiming for itself as interest another part of this appreciation, so that it does not remain with the capitalist employer as such as what one calls the industrial profit or commercial." (Karl Marx, Wages, price and profits )

In the same way the taxation taken by the State (direct or indirect, on the profits or the wages) is taken of the appreciation. Thus the appreciation is divided into: revenue, industrial profit, commercial profit, interest and tax.

Rate of appreciation

The rate of appreciation is defined by Marx like the volume of appreciation produced by the labor force divided by the Variable capital (Labor costs) spent to produce it. Thus if v are the variable capital and S the appreciation, the rate of appreciation is:

$r = s/v$

It is the relationship between the value of work not paid divided by the value of paid work, expressed in monetary units.

This rate of appreciation also equal to the value of overproduced is divided by the value of the part of the product corresponding to necessary work.

In the same way one can define a rate of exploitation which is equal to the time of Surtravail divided by the time of Necessary work.

The rates of appreciation and exploitation are equal.

Absolute and relative appreciation

maximization of the absolute appreciation : They are all the methods which seek to extend the absolute size of the appreciation. The most traditional method in first half of the 19th century is the prolongation of day's work. The duration of necessary work remains the same one, only the duration of surtravail increases. Or another way is the increase in the intensity of work (reduction in the pauses, etc). Or even extension of the exploitation to other categories of individuals (for example children).

maximization of the relative appreciation : In fact the methods try to increase the surtravail with necessary work relative. If the work period is fixed, one seeks to decrease the value of necessary work by increasing the labor productivity. That can be done by improvement of division or work or mechanization.

Antagonism of the social classes

The extraction of the appreciation by the Middle-class on the one hand, and the resistance of the Proletariat to this exploitation on the other hand, are, according to the Marxisme, in the middle of antagonism between these social classes, sometimes latent or hidden, sometimes being expressed in an open conflict. This antagonism appears on the economic ground (salary demands, strikes, etc) and on the political field (fights for the reduction of the working time, fights for the political power, revolution, etc). It is the class struggle.

See too

the thought of Karl Marx
the Capital
Added-value
Valorization
Profit

References

'' Theories off Surplus-Been worth '' (1863) (in English)
'' Value, Price and Profit '' (1865) (in English)
'' the Capital '', Critical Volume 1
of the program of Gotha , Karl Marx, 1891

Random links: