The autonomisation of abstract wealth: new insights on the labour theory of value

Abstract

We theorize the forms of value in the Marxist system in a way that challenges the dominant tradition. The standard procedure has been to read Marx's Capital as an analysis that begins at a high level of abstraction and moves toward more concrete concepts. Our alternative approach posits that the forms of value in the Marxist system evolve from more concrete toward more abstract forms of wealth that increasingly separate from and obscure labor exploitation.Our procedure therefore replaces the dominant interpretation of 'successive approximations' employed by most scholars. We develop a broader account of Marx's project alongside textual evidence retrieved from many of his writings.We also provide a new way to incorporate the monetary, financial, and rentier forms of wealth into Marx's labor value theory. The proposed alternative approach can potentially open a research agenda on the contemporaneous dynamics of abstract and concrete forms of wealth in advanced capitalism.

The Commodification of Knowledge and Information

“…This surplus value is produced outside the knowledge sector". contrary, the rise of rentier activities and of other types of unproductive activity is exactly what Marx had conceptualized through his notion of value autonomization (Rotta and Teixeira 2016).…”

“…In a more recent analysis, Teixeira and Rotta (2012), Rotta and Teixeira (2016), and Rotta (2018) propose a solution to the theoretical challenge inherent to the concept of immaterial labor. In these studies we conceptualize the role of commodified knowledge but we do so within Marx's value theory, without rejecting abstract labor as the substance of value.…”

Unproductive accumulation in the USA: a new analytical framework

“…An alternative explanation, however, could offer a complementary argument for the causes of unproductive accumulation. As Rotta and Teixeira (2016) and Paulani (2014) have indicated, Marx had a deeper understanding of the long-run dynamics of capitalism, an understanding that was already built into his own theory of value. For Marx, capitalism is a system that produces abstract forms of wealth: the more that capitalism develops concretely, the more abstract forms of wealth it creates.…”

“…The forms of wealth move from more concrete toward more abstract forms that are increasingly autonomized from the production of value and the exploitation of productive labor. As Rotta and Teixeira (2016) and Paulani 2014 Notes: Real growth rates were obtained by deflating nominal flow measures by the implicit GDP deflator, and nominal stock measures by the producer price index (PPI). Marxist VA, surplus value, gross and net incomes of unproductive activities are all net of depreciation of fixed assets.…”

Towards a Marxist Theory of Financialized Capitalism

“…Within and around this longer cycle, there are numerous smaller financial epicycles, whose spatial reach and impact are linked to contextually-specific changes in institutions such as land, housing and securities markets and their regulation. These epi-and metacycle peaks (and valleys) are amplified by the speculative dynamics of the ceaseless attempt by finance to escape the constraints of the production and realization of surplus value, what Rotta and Teixeira (2016) describe as the 'autonomization' of abstract wealth.…”