Editing Use value (section)

== "Indifference" of capitalists ==
Some academics such as Professor [[Robert Albritton]], a Canadian political scientist, have claimed that according to Marx, capitalists are basically "indifferent" to the use-value of the goods and services in which they trade, since what matters to capitalists is just the money they make; whatever the buyer does with the goods and services produced is, so it seems, of no real concern.{{fact|date=January 2024}}

But this is arguably a misunderstanding of business activity and the [[bourgeoisie]] as a class.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mises.org/epofe/c5sec3.asp |title=Epistemological Problems, Subjective Theory of Value, Use Value |publisher=Mises.org |access-date=13 March 2012}}</ref> Marx thought that capitalists can never be totally "indifferent" to use-values, because inputs of sufficient quality (labour, materials, equipment) must be bought and managed to produce outputs that:
* will sell at an adequate profit;
* are legally permitted by the [[State (polity)|state]] to be sold;
* do not destroy the reputation of the supplier (with its obvious effect on sales).{{fact|date=January 2024}}

For this purpose, the [[Factor of production|inputs]] in production must moreover be used in an economical way, and care must be taken not to waste resources to the extent that this would mean additional costs for an enterprise, or reduce productivity.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.marxist.com/in-defence-of-ltv.htm | title = In Defence of Marx's Labour Theory of Value | access-date = 22 March 2018 | first = Rob | last = Sewell | date = 13 January 2014 }}</ref> The Theory of Use Values relates directly to human labour and the power of machines to destroy value, "Living labour must seize on these things, awaken them from the dead, change them from merely possible into real and effective use values".<ref>Karl Marx, Das Kapital, vol.1, pp.45, 289.</ref>

It is just that from the point of view of the financier or investor, the main concern is not what exactly is being produced as such or how useful that is for society, but whether the investment can make a profit for him. If the products of the enterprise being invested in sell and make a profit, then that is regarded as sufficient indication of usefulness. Even so, the investor is obviously interested in "the state of the market" for the enterprise's products—if certain products are being used less or used more, this affects sales and profits. So to evaluate "the state of the market", the investor needs knowledge about the place of a product in the [[value chain]] and how it is being used.{{fact|date=January 2024}}

Often, Marx assumed in ''Das Kapital'' for argument's sake that supply and demand will balance, and that products do sell. Even so, Marx carefully defines the production process both as a [[Abstract labour and concrete labour|labour]] process creating use-values, and a [[valorisation]] process creating new value. He asserts only that "capital in general" as an abstract social power, or as a property claim to [[surplus value]], is indifferent to particular use-values—what matters in this financial relation is only whether more value can be appropriated through the exchanges that occur. Most share-holders are not interested in whether a company actually satisfies customers, they want an adequate profit on their investment (but a countertrend is so-called "[[socially responsible investing]]").{{fact|date=January 2024}}

In modern times, business leaders are often very concerned with [[total quality management]] in production, which has become the object of scientific studies, as well as a new source of industrial conflict, since attempts are made to integrate ''everything'' a worker is and does (both their creative potential and how they relate to others) in the battle for improved quality. In that case, it could be argued not just [[labor power|labour power]] but the whole person is a use-value (see further [[Richard Sennett]]'s books such as ''[[The Culture of the New Capitalism]]'', Yale (2006). Some regard this practice as a kind of "[[wage-slavery]]".{{fact|date=January 2024}}

From beginning to end, and from production to consumption, use-value and exchange-value form a [[dialectical unity]]. If this is not fully clear from Marx's writings, that is perhaps mainly because he never theorised the sphere of final [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]] in any detail, nor the way in which [[commerce]] reshapes the way that final consumption takes place.{{fact|date=January 2024}}