Business also provided an outlet for personal fulfillment and growth. People could specialize, which led to advancements in the production (both quantitative and qualitative) of goods. Business created a happier society, because people could excel at their specialty and generate a surplus of products of use-value for everyone.
Marx then talks about M-C-M’, which is the exchange of money for commodity to make more money, which removes business from its original purpose. In this equation, there is no focus on providing use-values to a community. We now see quantitative growth for the individual. This translates into exploitation of the commodity – the sale of an item for a cost higher than its original value, while the use-value is the same. In present day, people of the community have become the commodity in the form of labor and are thus exploited by the same means.
If an individual wanted to specialize in weaving today and set up a shop, they would be crushed by the corporate competition. People, who would have once specialized, are now wage earners for those corporations. Most wage-earner positions are similar, repetitive, and lack any individualization. A cashier at a Wal-Mart is the same as a cashier at Best Buy. There is no specialization – just a labor force to better serve the need of the individual in the pursuit of profit-making (M-C-M’). Thus business has moved away from its original purpose to serve the community and create specialization, and moved towards the gains of the individual, which in turn decreases the productivity and happiness of the community as a whole.
To start off a response and to restate your post, you’re discussing that, initially, businesses were small and provided goods and services to the public for a return of commodities with a use value (C-M-C). Then, business became focused on M-C-M’, or money making, and typically did so through exploitation of labor. I think that Annie Leonard of “The Story of Stuff” would completely agree (and I do too) as your discussion accurately correlates to the topics that she covers in the video. I too believe that long ago, business was more like means of specialization for survival, i.e. food for clothes. Once the industrial revolution began, however, specialization turned to individual parts of a production in order to mass produce. Advancements in transportation lead to a larger market to produce for. So business changed the tone of the production of commodities from survival to everyday life and luxury, (C-M-C to M-C-M’) and businesses discovered mass profit from this. If I need to suggest anything it would be that although there is exploitation of unspecialized labor, such as a cashier as you point out, I believe that there is still specialized labor in business. Education degrees, training for computer programming or software engineering, or also skills such as the calm composure and steady hand required of a surgeon. My post focused on the straightforward money making process that Marx was describing in the few pages we read. I do believe that businesses use this and exploit labor and consumers and your post was on target and provided insight to this.
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