General Marx's Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

General Marx's Theories - Essay Example Marx gives reasons as for the need for such assessment. Value is social because it is determined by the total result of the fluctuating efforts of each individual producer; objective because it is given, upon the completion of the production of a given commodity, and becomes independent from personal or collective valuations of customers on the marketplace; it is historically relative because it is linked to each important change, progress or otherwise, of the average productivity of labor in a given segment of output, including transportation and agriculture.   This does not, however, mean that Marx’s concept of value is detached from consumption. He only distinguishes between the living labor and dead labor, like tools and raw materials. But he says values determine prices only basically and in the medium-term sense of the word. Marx respects the operation of market laws, also of a law of supply and demand, in determining the short-term fluctuations. The Communist Manifesto declares, â€Å"The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Communist Manifesto) Marx does treat labor as a commodity but one can not say that his value theory is unscientific and wrong. His observation should not be read in isolation. Karl Korsch points out, â€Å"It was never the intention of Marx to descend from the general idea of value as expounded in the first volume of Capital, by means of ever closer determinants to a direct determination of the price of commodities.