Is Marx’s Theory of Value Still Relevant?
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assessed in the light of contemporary political, economic and social problems.The title of this paper is deliberately provocative, on at least three grounds. First, it implies thatthe ‘relevance’ of social theories needs to be assessed historically, and it may change as thesubject of analysis is transformed over time. Second, it suggests that Marx’s theory of valuemay have been relevant in the past – perhaps when it was first developed, or maybe under what became known as competitive capitalism – but it may no longer be tenable in the phase of ‘global capitalism’. Third, if this is the case, what are critics of capitalism supposed to do? – isthere another theory that may offer a similarly powerful denunciation of capitalism as Marx’s,with the same scientific rigour, and the same degree of commitment to the search for post-capitalist alternatives?It is impossible to address these issues in the confines of a single paper. This essay answersthese questions unevenly and only partially, in three sections. The first reviews the strengths andshortcomings of different interpretations of Marx’s theory of value, the ‘traditional Marxism’associated with Dobb, Meek and Sweezy, Sraffian interpretations of Marx, value-form theory(especially the Rubin tradition) and the ‘new interpretation’ of value theory. The second offersan interpretation of value theory based on the primacy of class relations. This interpretation isnot entirely original, as it draws on an extensive literature developed over several decades.However, this section aims to present the principles of this interpretation of Marx’s theory of value briefly and consistently, in order to highlight its most important claims and implications.The conclusion indicates how this interpretation can offer useful insights for the analysis of several important problems of our age. It should be pointed out that this paper does not surveythe entire field of value theory, or deal with all important or polemical aspects of this theory, or offer an orderly exposition of the theory for beginners.1
1 Interpretations of Marx’s Theory of Value
The concept of value has been interpreted in widely different ways.2 Two interpretations of Marx’s theory of value have become especially prominent, the ‘embodied labour’ views,including ‘traditional Marxism’ and Sraffian approaches, and value form theories, includingthose associated with Rubin and the ‘new interpretation’. Although these interpretations of valuetheory have contributed significantly to our understanding of capitalism, they are not entirely
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Readers unfamiliar with Marx’s theory of value theory may wish start from Fine and Saad-Filho (2004),Foley (1986), Harvey (1999) or Weeks (1981). This paper draws extensively on Saad-Filho (2002).
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‘[V]irtually every controversy within Marxist economics is at bottom a controversy concerning thenature and status of value theory’ (Mohun 1991, p.42).
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