Exchange Value

In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different

use-values get a common denominator in the form of money (or another
general equivalent of exchange)
humans commodities money
In exchange, humans set values of commodities as something equal, and different
use-values get a common denominator in the form of money (or another
general equivalent of exchange): many things are getting united as a unity of
diversity of commodities is created by the general form of value. Exchangevalue
appears first of all as the quantitative relation, the proportion, in which
use-values of one kind exchange for use-values of another kind (Marx 1867c,
126). Exchange-value is the necessary mode of expression, or form of appearance,
of value (ibid., 128). In exchange, concrete use-values that satisfy
human needs are set as equals.They are all different in that they satisfy differ
ent
human needs, but setting them as equals (x commodity A = y commodity B; or:
x commodity = a units of money; y commodity B = a units of money) abstracts
from this difference and constructs an equality by establishing an exchange
relationship between two quantities of different commodities. The equalized
commodities are considered to represent the same amount of value.The exchange
relationship that in capitalism is organized with the help of money, which acts
as
a general equivalent of exchange, constructs a unity in diversity, a unity of th
e
different use-values of commodities. In the exchange process, commodities are re
duced
to that which they have in commonvalue.Value is the third commonality
of commodities (Wolf 2008, 104). Commodities possess an objective character
as values only in so far as they are all expressions of an identical social subs
tance,
human labour [. . .] their objective character as values is therefore purely soc
ial
(Marx 1867c, 138139).
Value has an objective form in the sense that certain quanta of abstract human
labour are objectified in it on average. This objectivity is social and societal
because
all commodities are products of human labour that is organized in society
and the production process is itself a social process. But value is not only obj
ective
and in this objectivity societal, but it is also social as an exchange relations
hip
itself: In the exchange relationship x commodity A = y commodity B, the value
of commodity A is expressed in the use-value of commodity B and the value of
commodity B in the use-value of commodity A (Wolf 2002, 131). By means
of the value-relation, therefore, the natural form of commodity B becomes the
value-form of commodity A, in other words the physical body of commodity B
becomes a mirror for the value of commodity A. Commodity A, then, in entering
into a relation with commodity B as an object of value [Wertkrper], as a material
ization
of human labour, makes the use-value B into the material through
which its own value is expressed. The value of commodity A, thus expressed
in the use-value of commodity B, has the form of relative value (Marx 1867c,
144). If one says, for instance, one yard of linen is worth two pounds of coffee,
then the exchange-value of linen is expressed in the use-value of coffee, and it
is moreover expressed in a definite quantity of this use-value (Marx 1859). The
contradiction between value and use-value of a commodity (the double character
of a commodity as use-value and value that is created by concrete labour and
abstract labour) is sublated in the form of the exchange value, that is, by the
fact
that the value of the commodity is expressed in the use-value of another commodi
ty
via the exchange relationship.Value has at the same time an objective and
social form. Therefore Heinrichs attempt to ridicule those who argue that value
exists in production and prior to exchange and the money form, as substantialist
s
and Ricardians that neglect the social form of value, is one-sided and does not
see the double character of value. For Hegel (1830, 90), quality means Being
with a character or mode. [. . .] And as reflected into itself in this its chara
cter or
mode, Determinate Being is a somewhat, as existent. Quantity is the exclusive
unit, and the identification or equalisation of these units (ibid., 100).Quantity,
essentially invested with the exclusionist character which it involves, is Quant
um
(or How Much): i.e. limited quantity (ibid., 101). The dialectical unity of
Quantity and Quality is called the Measure. Measure is the qualitative quantum,
in the first place as immediatea quantum, to which a determinate being or a
quality is attached (ibid., 107). We measure, e.g. the length of different chords
that have been put into a state of vibration, with an eye to the qualitative dif
ference
of the tones caused by their vibration, corresponding to this difference
of length. Similarly, in chemistry, we try to ascertain the quantity of the matt
ers
brought into combination, in order to find out the measures or proportions condi
tioning
such combinations, that is to say, those quantities which give rise to definite
qualities. In statistics, too, the numbers with which the study is engaged are
important only from the qualitative results conditioned by them (ibid., 106). In
the equation 1 computer = 500 ??, we have qualities of the economy (computer,
money) that are present in certain quantities (1 computer, 500 units of money).
In their exchange, we measure a relationship between the two commodities: a
certain quantity (value) of one commodity is expressed in the use-value of the
other.The next figure shows Hegels dialectic of quality, quantity and measure. It
is followed by a figure that applies this dialectic to Marxs notions of use-value
,
value and exchange-value.