The mismeasure of wealth: essays on Marx and social form

568 Pages·2016·1.956 MB·English

by  Marx, Karl;Murray, Patrick

TheMismeasureofWealth
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
SébastienBudgen(Paris)
DavidBroder(Rome)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume126
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
The Mismeasure of Wealth
EssaysonMarxandSocialForm
By
PatrickMurray
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Murray,Patrick,1948-author.
Title:Themismeasureofwealth:essaysonMarxandsocialform/byPatrick
Murray.
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,[2016]|Series:Historicalmaterialismbook
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Identifiers:lccn2016028359(print)|lccn2016038974(ebook)|isbn
9789004231016(hardback:alk.paper)|isbn9789004326071(e-book)
Subjects:lcsh:Marx,Karl,1818-1883.|Philosophy,Marxist.|Marxianeconomics.
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∵

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xii
NotesonChapters xvi
Introduction:PuttingtheSpotlightonSocialFormandPurpose 1
part 1
TheEssays
1 Value,MoneyandCapitalinHegelandMarx 55
2 RedoubledEmpiricism:ThePlaceofSocialFormandFormal
CausalityinMarxianTheory 69
3 ThingsFallApart:HistoricalandSystematicDialecticsandthe
CritiqueofPoliticalEconomy 95
4 Marx’s‘TrulySocial’LabourTheoryofValue:Parti,AbstractLabourin
MarxianValueTheory 120
5 Marx’s‘TrulySocial’LabourTheoryofValue:Partii,HowisLabour
ThatisundertheSwayofCapitalActuallyAbstract? 156
6 TheGrammarofValue:ACloseLookatMarx’sCritiqueofSamuel
Bailey 189
7 UnavoidableCrises:ReflectionsonBackhausandtheDevelopmentof
Marx’sValue-FormTheoryintheGrundrisse 220
8 TheNecessityofMoney:HowHegelHelpedMarxSurpassRicardo’s
TheoryofValue 249
9 MoneyasDisplacedSocialForm:WhyValueCannotbeIndependent
ofPrice 277
viii contents
10 TheSocialandMaterialTransformationofProductionbyCapital:
FormalandRealSubsumptioninCapital,Volumei 294
11 ThePlaceof‘TheResultsoftheImmediateProductionProcess’in
Capital 325
12 Beyondthe‘CommerceandIndustry’PictureofCapital 341
13 TheSecretofCapital’sSelf-Valorisation‘LaidBare’:HowHegelHelped
MarxtoOverturnRicardo’sTheoryofProfit 373
14 TheIllusionoftheEconomic:TheTrinityFormulaandthe‘Religionof
EverydayLife’ 398
part 2
CriticalEngagements
15 AvoidingBadAbstractions:ADefenceofCo-constitutiveValue-Form
Theory 425
16 TheNewGiant’sStaircase 443
17 InDefenceofthe‘ThirdThingArgument’:AReplytoJamesFurner’s
‘Marx’sCritiqueofSamuelBailey’ 465
18 ReplytoGeertReuten 485
19 TheTroublewithRicardianMarxism:Commentson‘TheFourDrafts
ofCapital:TowardsaNewInterpretationoftheDialecticalThoughtof
Marx’,byEnriqueDussel 505
Bibliography 517
Index 536
Preface
TheMismeasureofWealth:EssaysonMarxandSocialFormbringstogetherina
singlevolumemostofwhatIhavewrittenonMarxandMarxiantheorysince
thepublicationofmyMarx’sTheoryofScientificKnowledgein1988.Allbutthe
introductionand‘TheGrammarofValue:ACloseLookatMarx’sCritiqueof
Samuel Bailey’ have been previously published. Most of the chaptersstarted
outaspaperswrittenfortheannualworkingconferencesoftheinterdisciplin-
aryresearchgrouptheInternationalSymposiumonMarxianTheory(ismt).1
Theessays,whichfocusonMarxasatheoristofspecificsocialforms–inpar-
ticular,capitalistones–appearhereinaroughconceptualorderratherthan
in order of publication. There are several writings that primarily respond to
theideasofotherinterpretersofMarx:ChrisArthur;EnriqueDussell;James
Furner; Geert Reutenand severalproponents of the Temporal Single System
Interpretation(tssi),namelyAlanFreeman,AndrewKliman,MayaGonzalez
andMichaelPosner.Ihavecollectedtheseundertheheading‘CriticalEngage-
ments’attheendofthebook.2
1 Afewhavebeentranslated:‘Marx’s“TrulySocial”LabourTheoryofValue:Parti,Abstract
LabourinMarxianValueTheory’hasbeentranslatedintoSpanishbyMarioL.RoblesBaezas
‘Ladialecticadelaconceptualizaciondelaabstracciondeltrabajo’,inDialecticayCapital:
Elementos para una reconstruccion de la critica de la economia politica, edited by Mario
L.RoblesBaez(MexicoCity:UniversidadAutonomaMetropolitana,2005),pp.59–95.‘The
NecessityofMoney:HowHegelHelpedMarxSurpassRicardo’sTheoryofValue’hasbeen
translatedintoSpanishbyMarioL.RoblesBaezas‘Lanecesidaddeldinero:comoHegel
ayudoaMarxasuperarlateoriadelvalordeRicardo’in DialecticayCapital,pp.143–70.
‘RedoubledEmpiricism:ThePlaceofSocialFormandFormalCausalityinMarxianTheory’
hasbeentranslatedintotheItalianbyTommasoRedolfiRivaas‘“Empirismoraddoppiato”:
Il posto della forma sociale e della causalita formale nella terorea marxiana’, in Marxin
questione: Il dibattito ‘aperto’ dell’International Symposium on Marxian Theory, edited by
RiccardoBellofioreandRobertoFineschi(Naples:LaCittadelSole:2009),pp.119–50.‘The
Placeof“TheResultsoftheImmediateProductionProcess”inCapital’,hasbeentranslated
intoChineseaspartofatranslationofRe-readingMarx:NewPerspectivesaftertheCritical
Edition,editedbyRiccardoBellofioreandRobertoFineschi,Basingstoke,Hampshire:Palgrave
Macmillan,2009.
2 Partsiandiiof‘Marx’s“TrulySocial”LabourTheoryofValue’are,amongotherthings,areply
toReuten1993and‘UnavoidableCrises:ReflectionsonBackhausandtheDevelopmentof
Marx’sValue-FormTheoryintheGrundrisse’isinpartareplytoHans-GeorgBackhaus’s‘On
theDialecticsoftheValue-Form’,butIincludeallthreewiththeessaysinthefirstpartofthe
presentvolumeasChaptersFour,FiveandSeven,respectively.
x preface
Several terms have been put forward to characterise various streams in
the renewal of research into Marx and Marxian theory beginning in the late
1960s and the 1970s. They include ‘Hegelian Marxism’, ‘systematic dialectics’,
‘newdialectics’and‘value-formtheory’.InhisreinterpretationofMarx’scrit-
ical theory, Moishe Postone criticises ‘Traditional Marxism’ for adopting the
classical labour theory of value, which treats the categories of value and of
thelabourthatproducesvalueasapplicableacrosshistoryratherthanbeing
specifictocapitalistsocieties.3‘Newdialectics’and‘systematicdialectics’are
morerecentphrases;they focuson method incontrasttothe older,broader
rubricof‘HegelianMarxism’.4Thesethreetermsencompassinterpreterswith
divergentviewsonHegel,Marx’scriticismsofHegelandtheactualrelation-
ships between Hegel and Marx.5 In an exchange with Geert Reuten, I argue
for the distinctiveness of Marx’s experientially based systematic dialectics,
which departs from the ‘presuppositionlessness’ of Hegelian systematic dia-
lectics.6Asfor‘value-form’theory,Iarguethatitsproponentsdiverge.Michael
EldredandMarnieHanlongooneway;intheirview,valueisconstitutedsolely
in the exchange of commodities for money. Value-form theory is sometimes
mistaken for this one-sided view. The other direction, which I attribute to
Marx and defend, sees value as being co-constituted across production and
exchange.7
Myworkcanbeassociatedwithalltheselabels,but,withthesubtitle‘essays
on Marx and social form’, I want to emphasise a broader consideration, that
ofattendingtohistoricallyspecificsocialforms,asubjectmatterthatcharac-
terisesthebestrecentworkinMarxiantheory.IagreewithChrisArthur,who
coinedtheterm‘newdialectics’:
WhilethemainstreampositioninMarxisttheoryhasreadconceptssuch
as value, socially necessary labour time and abstract labour, largely in
a technical sense, I adhere to the growing minority that centralises the
ideaofsocialform,insistingthatallsuchcategorieshavetobeexplicated
3 Postone1993.Imentiononlythosestreamsmostcloselyrelatedtotheinterpretativeap-
proachtakeninthepresentessays.Thereareothers,includingAnalyticalMarxism,Sraffian
orneo-RicardianMarxism,AlthusserianMarxism,postmodernMarxismandpost-Marxism.
4 SeetheintroductionstoArthur2002aandtoAlbrittonandSimoulidis2003.
5 ForsomeassessmentsseeBurnsandFraser(eds.)2000andMoseleyandSmith(eds.)2014.
6 SeeMurray2000a,2000band2002c,includedinthepresentvolumeasChaptersFour,Five
andEighteen,respectively,andReuten2000.
7 See‘AvoidingBadAbstractions:ADefenceofCo-constitutiveValue-FormTheory’,included
asChapter15inthepresentvolume.