From: Ian Hunt (ian.hunt@FLINDERS.EDU.AU)
Date: Thu Jun 14 2007 - 03:47:39 EDT
Sorry if that was obscure. Suppose you have two workers, one skilled the other unskilled, who each work 2 hours. The sum of their concrete labours will be 4 hours. But if 2 hours of concrete skilled labour equals 8 hours of abstract labour, then the sum of the abstract labour will be 10 hours, which is not equal to the sum of the concrete labours. But maybe I misunderstood the proposed way of dealing with skilled labour, Cheers, Ian >What about the point in the other post, that there is a mismatch between the >aggregate totals? I didn't get that at all either. > >Howard > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Ian Hunt" <ian.hunt@FLINDERS.EDU.AU> >To: <OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU> >Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 9:47 PM >Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Abstraction > > >> Dear Howard, >> I only meant that you cannot get an ordinarily skilled person to do >> the work of a surgeon over a longer period of time, as you can get an >> ordinarily skilled person to do the work of a bricklayer, though over >> a longer period of time. Of course, surgical services are brought to >> market like everything else (in the US at least) and thus hare >> equivalent in monetary terms to so many hours of ordinarily skilled >> work: but this equation is not explained by a reduction of surgical >> labour to a multiple of ordinary labour, it is the other way round, >> Cheers, >> Ian >> >> >Hi Ian, >> > >> >I don't understand the opening sentence here, either. Tins of bootblack >can >> >be exchanged for castles, recall. They can also be exchanged for >> >complicated surgery. This is not about the character of the skill but >the >> >fact that it is taken to market. Market is the night that turns all >labor >> >black. For this reason the news articles Rakesh offered are completely >> >relevant. As a result of competition goods or services of the same >quality >> >will tend to sell for the same price. >> > >> >Howard >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >----- Original Message ----- >> >From: "Ian Hunt" <ian.hunt@FLINDERS.EDU.AU> >> >To: <OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU> >> >Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:55 PM >> >Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Abstraction >> > >> > >> >> I don't think any number of unskilled labour hours can perform the >> >> work of a skilled surgeon, but for that reason I don't think that the >> >> hours worked by surgeons etc count as expenditures of labour power, >> >> defined as the group of skills common to all human labour: surgery is >> >> the expenditure of a skill that is not shared across people to a >> >> higher or lesser degree. On the other hand, it is arguable that an >> >> amateur plumber can do plumbing work but at the cost of a lot of >> >> hours finding out the regulations, planning the work, and doing the >> >> job slowly (the ratio might perhaps be 8 to 1, so nearly everyone >> >> hires a plumber, not to mention those jobs where the work has to be >> >> inspected and by regulation must be done by a qualified plumber - so >> >> bricklaying might be a better example) >> >> >> >> >Marx says that commodities are commensurate in the market, but there >> >> >is no way to >> >> >get behind the market to get a handle on the abstract labor >> >> >measures. How many >> >> >hours of abstract labor does a surgeon represent. Can 20 or 50 >> >> >unskilled labor >> >> >perform the same procedure? >> >> > -- >> >> >Michael Perelman >> >> >Economics Department >> >> >California State University >> >> >Chico, CA 95929 >> >> > >> >> >Tel. 530-898-5321 >> >> >E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu >> >> >michaelperelman.wordpress.com >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> Associate Professor Ian Hunt, >> >> Dept of Philosophy, School of Humanities, >> >> Director, Centre for Applied Philosophy, >> >> Flinders University of SA, >> >> Humanities Building, >> >> Bedford Park, SA, 5042, >> >> Ph: (08) 8201 2054 Fax: (08) 8201 2784 >> >> >> -- >> Associate Professor Ian Hunt, >> Dept of Philosophy, School of Humanities, >> Director, Centre for Applied Philosophy, >> Flinders University of SA, >> Humanities Building, > > Bedford Park, SA, 5042, >> Ph: (08) 8201 2054 Fax: (08) 8201 2784 -- Associate Professor Ian Hunt, Dept of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Director, Centre for Applied Philosophy, Flinders University of SA, Humanities Building, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Ph: (08) 8201 2054 Fax: (08) 8201 2784
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