Value-form

The value-form or form of value ("Wertform" in German) ^[1] is an important concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy.^[2] It refers to the social forms of tradeable things as symbols of value, which contrast with their physical features, as objects which can satisfy human needs or serve a useful purpose.^[3] The physical appearance or the price tag of a traded object may be directly observable, but the meaning of its social form (as an object of value) is not.^[4]

Playfully narrating the paradoxical oddities and metaphysical niceties of ordinary things when they become instruments of trade,^[5] Marx provides a brief social morphology of the category of economic value as such—what its substance really is, the forms which this substance takes, and how its magnitude is determined or expressed. He analyzes the forms of value in the first instance^[6] by considering the meaning of the value-relationship that exists between two quantities of traded objects.

The value-form concept has been the subject of numerous theoretical controversies among researchers in the Marxian tradition,^[7] giving rise to many different interpretations (see Criticism of value-form theory). Especially from the late 1960s^[8] and since the rediscovery of Isaac Rubin's Essays on Marx's theory of value,^[9] the theory of the value-form has been appraised by many Western Marxist scholars^[10] as well as by Frankfurt School theorists^[11] and Post-Marxist theorists.^[12] There has also been considerable discussion about the value-form concept by Japanese Marxian scholars.^[13] A brief overview of the main criticisms of Marx's theory of the form of value is provided in the Criticism of value-form theory article.^[14]

The debates about Marx’s value-form idea often seem obscure, complicated or hyper-abstract. Nevertheless, they continue to have a theoretical importance for the foundations of economic theory and its critique. What position is taken on the issues involved, influences how the relationships of value, prices, money, labour and capital are understood. It will also influence how the historical evolution of trading systems is perceived, and how the reifying effects associated with commerce are interpreted.^[15]

^ In English, one would normally say "the form of value", "the form that value takes" or "the form in which value is expressed" but the expression "value-form" is often used, because of the specific concept that Marx had in mind.
^ Samezō Kuruma, Marx’s Theory of the Genesis of Money. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
^ Helmut Brentel, Soziale Form und ökonomisches Objekt. Studien zum Gegenstands- und Methodenverständnis der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 1989. Hoon Hong, "Marx's value forms and Hayek's rules: a reinterpretation in the light of the dichotomy between physis and nomos." Cambridge Review of Economics, Vol. 26, No. 5, September 2002, pp. 613-635.
^ "What I proceed from is the simplest social form in which the product of labour presents itself in contemporary society, and this is the "commodity." This I analyse, initially in the form in which it appears. Here I find that on the one hand in its natural form it is a thing for use, alias a use-value; on the other hand, a bearer of exchange-value, and from this point of view it is itself an "exchange-value." Further analysis of the latter shows me that exchange-value is merely a "form of appearance," an independent way of presenting the value contained in the commodity, and then I start on the analysis of the latter... the concrete social form of the product of labour, the "commodity," is on the one hand, use-value and on the other, "value," not exchange value, since the mere form of appearance is not its own content." — Karl Marx, Notes on Adolph Wagner's "Lehrbuch der politischen Ökonomie, 1879.[1]
^ "A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties." - Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Penguin edition 1976, p. 163.
^ "The individual commodity viewed as the product, the actual elementary component of capital that has been generated and reproduced, differs then from the individual commodity with which we began, and which we regarded as an autonomous article, as the precondition [Voraussetzung] of capital formation." - Karl Marx, "Results of the immediate process of production", in: Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, Penguin 1976, p. 966 (translation corrected).
^ Jan Hoff, Marx Worldwide; on the development of the international discourse on Marx since 1965. Leiden: Brill, 2017; Pichit Likitkijsomboon, "Marxian Theories of Value-Form". Review of Radical Political Economics, vol. 27 no. 2, June 1995, pp. 73-105.
^ Helmut Reichelt, "From the Frankfurt School to Value-Form Analysis". Thesis Eleven, No. 4, 1982, pp. 166–169; Marx200 webpage, Form-analytical and value-theoretical readings of Marx (from the mid-1960s) [n.d.][2]; Roberto Fineschi, "Dialectic of the Commodity and Its Exposition: The German Debate in the 1970s — A Personal Survey". In: Riccardo Bellofiore & Roberto Fineschi, Re-reading Marx: new perspectives after the critical edition. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 50-70.
^ Isaak Illich Rubin, Essays on Marx's theory of value. Detroit: Black & Red, 1973.
^ For example, Ian Steedman & Paul Sweezy (eds.), The value controversy. London: Verso, 1981; Derek Sayer, Marx's method - ideology, science and critique in Capital, 2nd edition. Sussex: Harvester Press, 1983; Simon Mohun, "Value, Value Form and Money", in Simon Mohun (ed.), Debates in Value Theory. Macmillan: London, 1994; Alfredo Saad-Filho, The value of Marx. London: Routledge, 2002, section 2.2; Costas Lapavitsas, Social foundations of money, markets and credit. London: Routledge, 2003; Michael Heinrich, Die Wissenschaft vom Wert. Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2001; Fred Moseley, Marx’s Theory of Value in Chapter 1 of Capital. A Critique of Heinrich’s Value-Form Interpretation. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer, 2023.
^ Hans-Georg Backhaus, Dialektik der Wertform, 2nd. edition. Freiburg: ça ira Verlag, 2011. Riccardo Bellofiore and Tommaso Redolfi Riva, "Hans-Georg Backhaus: the critique of premonetary theories of value and the perverted forms of economic reality. In: Beverly Best et al. (eds.), The Sage handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. London: Sage, 2018, pp. 386-401.
^ Neil Larsen, Mathias Nilges, Josh Robinson, and Nicholas Brown (eds.), Marxism and the Critique of Value. Chicago: MCM Publishing, 2014.[3] [4]
^ Kei Ehara, "The Japanese history of Marxian value-form analysis: Focusing on the Unoist approach." In: The Japanese Political Economy, Vol. 50, issue 1, 2023. Kiyoshi Nagatani, "Value-form and the mystery of money". Capital & Class, Volume 44, Issue 1, January 2019.
^ The Criticism of value-form theory article is a split-off from the original Value-form article. It was felt that the original article had become too large and that the criticisms of the theory were better placed in a separate article.
^ Anwar M. Shaikh, Capitalism: competition, conflict, crises. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, chapter 5; Makoto Itoh & Costas Lapavitsas, Political economy of money and finance. New York: Macmillan Press, 1999, chapters 1 and 2; Isaak Illich Rubin, Essays on Marx's theory of value. Detroit: Black & Red, 1973; Geoffrey Ingham, The nature of money. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.

[1] In English, one would normally say "the form of value", "the form that value takes" or "the form in which value is expressed" but the expression "value-form" is often used, because of the specific concept that Marx had in mind.

[2] Samezō Kuruma, Marx’s Theory of the Genesis of Money. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

[3] Helmut Brentel, Soziale Form und ökonomisches Objekt. Studien zum Gegenstands- und Methodenverständnis der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 1989. Hoon Hong, "Marx's value forms and Hayek's rules: a reinterpretation in the light of the dichotomy between physis and nomos." Cambridge Review of Economics, Vol. 26, No. 5, September 2002, pp. 613-635.

[4] "What I proceed from is the simplest social form in which the product of labour presents itself in contemporary society, and this is the "commodity." This I analyse, initially in the form in which it appears. Here I find that on the one hand in its natural form it is a thing for use, alias a use-value; on the other hand, a bearer of exchange-value, and from this point of view it is itself an "exchange-value." Further analysis of the latter shows me that exchange-value is merely a "form of appearance," an independent way of presenting the value contained in the commodity, and then I start on the analysis of the latter... the concrete social form of the product of labour, the "commodity," is on the one hand, use-value and on the other, "value," not exchange value, since the mere form of appearance is not its own content." — Karl Marx, Notes on Adolph Wagner's "Lehrbuch der politischen Ökonomie, 1879.[1]

[5] "A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties." - Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Penguin edition 1976, p. 163.

[6] "The individual commodity viewed as the product, the actual elementary component of capital that has been generated and reproduced, differs then from the individual commodity with which we began, and which we regarded as an autonomous article, as the precondition [Voraussetzung] of capital formation." - Karl Marx, "Results of the immediate process of production", in: Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, Penguin 1976, p. 966 (translation corrected).

[7] Jan Hoff, Marx Worldwide; on the development of the international discourse on Marx since 1965. Leiden: Brill, 2017; Pichit Likitkijsomboon, "Marxian Theories of Value-Form". Review of Radical Political Economics, vol. 27 no. 2, June 1995, pp. 73-105.

[8] Helmut Reichelt, "From the Frankfurt School to Value-Form Analysis". Thesis Eleven, No. 4, 1982, pp. 166–169; Marx200 webpage, Form-analytical and value-theoretical readings of Marx (from the mid-1960s) [n.d.][2]; Roberto Fineschi, "Dialectic of the Commodity and Its Exposition: The German Debate in the 1970s — A Personal Survey". In: Riccardo Bellofiore & Roberto Fineschi, Re-reading Marx: new perspectives after the critical edition. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 50-70.

[9] Isaak Illich Rubin, Essays on Marx's theory of value. Detroit: Black & Red, 1973.

[10] For example, Ian Steedman & Paul Sweezy (eds.), The value controversy. London: Verso, 1981; Derek Sayer, Marx's method - ideology, science and critique in Capital, 2nd edition. Sussex: Harvester Press, 1983; Simon Mohun, "Value, Value Form and Money", in Simon Mohun (ed.), Debates in Value Theory. Macmillan: London, 1994; Alfredo Saad-Filho, The value of Marx. London: Routledge, 2002, section 2.2; Costas Lapavitsas, Social foundations of money, markets and credit. London: Routledge, 2003; Michael Heinrich, Die Wissenschaft vom Wert. Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2001; Fred Moseley, Marx’s Theory of Value in Chapter 1 of Capital. A Critique of Heinrich’s Value-Form Interpretation. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer, 2023.

[11] Hans-Georg Backhaus, Dialektik der Wertform, 2nd. edition. Freiburg: ça ira Verlag, 2011. Riccardo Bellofiore and Tommaso Redolfi Riva, "Hans-Georg Backhaus: the critique of premonetary theories of value and the perverted forms of economic reality. In: Beverly Best et al. (eds.), The Sage handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. London: Sage, 2018, pp. 386-401.

[12] Neil Larsen, Mathias Nilges, Josh Robinson, and Nicholas Brown (eds.), Marxism and the Critique of Value. Chicago: MCM Publishing, 2014.[3] [4]

[13] Kei Ehara, "The Japanese history of Marxian value-form analysis: Focusing on the Unoist approach." In: The Japanese Political Economy, Vol. 50, issue 1, 2023. Kiyoshi Nagatani, "Value-form and the mystery of money". Capital & Class, Volume 44, Issue 1, January 2019.

[14] The Criticism of value-form theory article is a split-off from the original Value-form article. It was felt that the original article had become too large and that the criticisms of the theory were better placed in a separate article.

[15] Anwar M. Shaikh, Capitalism: competition, conflict, crises. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, chapter 5; Makoto Itoh & Costas Lapavitsas, Political economy of money and finance. New York: Macmillan Press, 1999, chapters 1 and 2; Isaak Illich Rubin, Essays on Marx's theory of value. Detroit: Black & Red, 1973; Geoffrey Ingham, The nature of money. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]