SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is a contribution to recent debates on the labour theory of value (LTV). It builds upon two distinctive features of the LTV; first, the categories used in the inquiry are historically determined modes of existence of capitalist social relations; second, it rejects equilibrium as the organizing principle of the investigation. Six issues are analysed in the light of these elements and the previous literature. First, the relationship between dialectical logic and the LTV is addressed through an evaluation of the 'new dialectics'. This approach to Marx's method understands the LTV as a systematic dialectical theory, whose aim is the reconstruction in thought of the main characteristics of capitalism. Second, the relationship between labour and value is assessed through the real processes that determine value and price, the normalization, synchronization and homogenization (NSH) of labour. Three well-known views of the LTV are assessed in this light; the traditional, the Sraffian, and the 'abstract labour' view. Third, the monetary reform devised by the 'Ricardian socialist' economists in the 19th Century, which was centred around the institution of a 'labour-money'. This plan, and Marx's critique of it, are investigated from the viewpoint of the NSH of labour. Fourth, the distinction between the technical, organic and value compositions of capital (TCC, OCC and VCC). The evolution of Marx's use of these terms is reconstructed, and their place in his analysis is brought to light. Fifth, the transformation of values into prices of production is reinterpreted in the light of the distinction between OCC and VCC. This view of the transformation is contrasted with the concerns of the critics of Marx's approach. Sixth, the contribution of the 'new approach' to the transformation problem to the LTV is evaluated in detail.