Paradoxes that increase labor productivity and increase free time
March 07, 2024 12:01 Source: "China Social Sciences" March 7, 2024 Issue 2847 Author: Xie Jinxiu

In the 1930s,Keynes once predicted,With the rapid progress of science and technology,By the 21st century,The economic level of residents will reach a very rich level,So that people's weekly work length can be shortened to 15 hours。From the theory of labor value of Marx, it seems that it can also launch similar results to it,With the increase in labor productivity caused by social development,People’s necessary labor time will gradually decrease to minimum limit,This makes everyone fully enjoy the free time to become possible。This depicts a beautiful vision that is free from scientific and technological progress and the improvement of labor productivity.,Some scholars have further pointed out on this basis,With more and more production areas, it can be automated、Intelligent、Unmanned,The rapid development of digital technology and artificial intelligence may gradually enrich material wealth、Allocate on demand、The comprehensive development of communism and people finally realized。

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But,When we face the social reality today, we will find it,Although it is compared to the era of Marx's life,Still compared to the era of Kanes live,We have indeed achieved the great progress of science and technology today and the great improvement of labor productivity,But whether in various developed countries or developing countries,The beautiful vision that only needs to work for 15 hours a week cannot be achieved。In many cases,What we experience is often the opposite situation,Although the labor productivity has been greatly improved,Today, people can produce the same or even better products as the past as there are fewer society,But the free time that people enjoy did not get a substantial increase in substantially,Even in some cases,People’s working hours are further extended,A lot of tedious、Unrealistic work is full of people’s lives。In the book "Unpreated Work",Author David Graber uses the term "meaningless job" or "bullshit jobs" to call these occupy a lot of time,But it seems that there is no value for individuals and society。At the same time,Digital bet365 live casino games Technology、The use of new technologies such as Internet and artificial intelligence seems to not only give people more free time,Instead, it becomes a "meaningless work" in the hardest hit area; many people no longer need to be as expressed in the movie of Chaplin,Time and energy of the assembly line of large -scale factories,But in various intangible labor that is gradually emerging,Continue to consume your time and energy on the new current water line built on the digital platform。Generally speaking,The improvement of labor productivity does not seem to have increased to increase the free time of human beings。

According to the above actual problems,Many contemporary scholars have proposed the theoretical viewpoint of Marx's theory of labor value。This view is considered,Marx lives in the era where large -scale production and industrial capital accounts for social dominance,The theory of labor value is mainly corresponding to material labor,and can only be used to describe the relevant characteristics of material labor and physical labor,but cannot be used to analyze intangible labor and brainpower。Based on this,Some scholars have further proposed the theory of labor value should be completely abandoned,It should be used to replace the theory of labor value with new views such as knowledge value,or only modernization of labor value theory can adapt to the new features of modern society。In fact,This has raised two theoretical questions that need to be answered urgently: one,Is the labor value theory of Marx that has failed,Can it be used to analyze intangible labor? Two,If the theory of labor value can also be used to analyze intangible labor,So can it explain that the improvement of labor productivity has not been transformed into an increase in freedom of human freedom?

  Analysis of intangible labor

Whether the theory of labor value can be used to analyze the problem of intangible labor,The first thing that needs to be clear is,When different scholars use brainpower and physical labor、Different characteristics such as material labor and intangible labor to criticize Marx's theory of labor value is a point of concern to care about material labor,Actually ignores the difference between the concrete labor form and the philosophical sense.。Marx pointed out,Analysis of economic forms requires "abstract power",When Marx attributed the source of value to the general human labor,Bet365 lotto review and think that the value of the product is determined by the necessary labor time of the commodity,The human labor mentioned here is not a variety of specific labor in various forms of expression.、Some kind of direct labor obtained after a simple average,Instead, a general abstract labor concept that is grasped by abstraction with abstraction,Among them, the various characteristics of the specific labor have been removed。Social necessary labor time is also based on the average necessary labor time formed on the basis of general abstract labor concepts,instead of a general representative of the necessary labor time of society with a certain iconic specific labor form。So,When Marx's theoretical abstraction of human labor through critical reflection of capitalist production methods,The key connotation is not whether the labor is ultimately condensed into a certain material product,The entity of value is abstract labor,Value determines the logic of abstract labor time。Therefore, the concepts such as abstract labor and the necessary labor time of society are built on physical labor and mental work、Theoretical abstraction based on all specific labor such as material labor and intangible labor,It is not a product of simply material labor thinking,It does not exclude all kinds of intangible labor forms。

Marx's theory of labor value and surplus value theory is not a kind of in the scientific sense of intellectual thinking and experience、Experienced theory with computing,but a unified truth and value、"Scientific" theory with a philosophical sense。When scholars represented by Raymond Alon criticize Marx's labor value theory and remaining value theory lack accuracy and measuability,It just ignores Marx's labor value theory that is not to study how to calculate the amount of profits and surplus value,Instead of explaining the nature of the capitalist production method and the way of the existence of people under the conditions of capitalist social conditions,to reveal the logic of capital proliferation and logic of human liberation。So,When some scholars emphasize the between brain labor and physical labor、The production of material products and the production of knowledge products have different features,It is difficult for us to calculate the need for brain labor and intellectual products to be calculated in the way we need to calculate Bet365 lotto review physical labor.,It is also difficult to choose the same measurement for physical labor and brain labor to calculate the average calculation,These views actually misunderstand the true connotation of Marx's labor value theory。If the calculation is standard, the theory of labor value is required,So even for material labor,The characteristics of the characteristics between different types of work and the huge difference in the ability of workers and proficiency will also cause it to accurately calculate the specific quantity of the necessary labor time and the amount of surplus value。If you can reveal the essential logic of the capitalist society as the standard,So whether it is material labor or intangible labor,Under the condition of capitalist production,Capital has occupied people's labor time,Therefore, the remaining value of people,This is within the analysis range of labor value theory。

Although in the age of live in Marx,Intangible labor has not yet been promoted by new technologies such as digital technology and artificial intelligence,Get as rich and diverse form of expression as today,But in fact in "The History of Remnant Value",Marx has mentioned the problem of labor production in the intangible field。Teacher、Doctor、Actors and other occupations not only have non -material characteristics,Even in many cases, their labor results will not be carried on some specific material carrier。But from Marx's eyes,As long as it is under the condition of the capitalist production method,These labor can be reasonably absorbed into the concept of abstract labor。"In school,Teacher for school boss,It can be a pure employment worker,This kind of education factory is very much in the UK。These teachers are not producer for students,But for the boss who hired them, it is a production worker。The boss exchanges the labor ability of the teacher with his capital,Through this process, make yourself rich。Theater、Entertainment venues, etc., also use this method to get rich。Here,Actor for the audience,Is an artist,But for your own business owner,Is a production worker。”

Because Marx's labor value theory is not a calculation theory in the scientific sense of intellectual thinking and experience,Among them, the general human labor is used、The concepts such as the necessary labor time of the society are Bet365 app download all philosophical concepts formed on the basis of abstraction,Marx's discussion in "The History of Residual Value Doctrine" does not exclude non -material labor,Instead, both material labor and intangible labor are also abstracted into general human labor,So from the perspective of the result,Labor value theory is not the theory of material labor,It can be used to analyze intangible labor。

  Labor productivity and freedom time

Labor value theory can be used to analyze intangible labor,The rise and extensive expansion of intangible labor not only do not have the theory of labor value of Marx,Instead, it provides new analysis resources for labor value theory。In fact,Combination of labor value theory with intangible labor to analyze,It exactly provides an important theoretical inspiration for our thinking about the increase of labor productivity.。

From the analysis of the duality of the value of the product and the two -weight analysis of the labor behind it,Marx gradually revealed the secret of capitalist production methods is,Capitalists have found a special product for labor,Consumption of labor itself can create new value,Therefore, through purchase of labor、Givening workers to create new value without paying for the remaining labor value produced by its remaining labor time,Capital has found the source of power to achieve unlimited self -proliferation。So,As described by the metaphor used by Marx used,Capital can only obtain strong vitality only on the basis of sucking live labor。Whether in the production process of the machine as the intermediary,Still in the production process of digital platform or artificial intelligence today,The capital is absorbed by the capital,It is the unpaid labor time of the workers condensed as the remaining value exploited by capital。"The surplus value generated by the use of the machine,That is the remaining labor,—— Whether it is absolutely leftover labor,Still relative remaining labor,It is not derived from the labor ability replaced by the machine,Instead, it comes from the labor ability used by the machine。”

It is precisely because of the extent of the development of technology,Capital always needs to achieve self -proliferation by absorbing live labor,So we can see,Capital always needs to expand the field of living labor,So as to occupy more labor time,Realize self -proliferation。With the continuous improvement of labor productivity,More and more material production areas have Bet365 lotto review gradually realized automation,In some more extreme cases,With the use of artificial intelligence and robotics,Some material production fields are even gradually realizing the proportion of living labor approaching zero。In this case,Capital needs to find the labor time of the person who fully occupy the person、Fully absorb new areas of living labor,The rise of non -material labor just provides this new field that can continue to provide a large number of live labor。

On the one hand,Unlike the creation of new labor forms in the field of material production, the rules limited by material production itself,In the field of intangible labor,People can constantly create new forms of labor,As long as you can reasonably absorb live labor,The purpose and significance of the work itself is not important。So,We can see,In the book "Unpreated Work",The author found that many original workflows have begun to become lengthy and bloated,More and more complicated administrative work is filling people's working hours,And people often mistakenly believe that these tasks mainly exist in the public department,But in fact, there are also a lot of similar jobs among private enterprises that chase profitable,Even the situation is even more。On the other hand,Not only capital can easily create a series of new labor forms in the field of intangible labor,And with the widespread application of digital technology,More and more labor begins to have intangible characteristics。This blurred boundary between labor behavior and non -labor behavior,Many original non -labor behavior can be transformed subtly into labor behavior under the help of digital platforms,In recent years, criticizing digital capital to occupy the data produced by people in the Internet life for free is the manifestation of this logic。In fact,These are all the characteristics of using intangible labor with capital,Continue to squeeze the remaining labor time in the field of intangible labor、The logic of absorbing live labor is consistent。

​​So,As the capital gradually turns the eyes of living labor to the field of intangible labor,People in the field of material production caused by the improvement of labor productivity in the field of social necessary labor time are reduced.,It has not been converted into people’s free time,Instead, it is transformed into labor time in the field of intangible material。This is consistent bet365 Play online games with the inherent logic of the capitalists analyzed by Marx analyzed by foreign trade.,It's just this time,The living labor available for absorbing not only comes from other countries,and mainly from a series of newly created intangible labor forms。So,Generally speaking,Labor value theory can not only be used to analyze intangible labor,and analyze intangible labor by labor value theory, we can find,The improvement of labor productivity has not been transformed into a increase in freedom of people,As Kanes's 15 -hour vision of working 15 hours of weekly work is not realized,To a certain extent, it is related to the expansion of the new form of capital and absorption of living labor in the field of intangible labor。

  (The author is a researcher at the Citizen Ethics and Social Forms of Jilin University)

Editor in charge: Cui Bohan
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