A Brief Glance at the History of the Laborer and Economic Theory of Value
Each economy throughout history has had its way of placing value on each laborer. Society has then assigned a hierarchy that is based on one’s career. The fact that the ranking system taking place is based on careers demonstrates how closely linked worth and work are.
“The fact that the ranking system taking place is based on careers demonstrates how closely linked worth and work are.”
Early Agricultural
In early agricultural societies we find an example of the type of situation wherein a person can be assigned value directly based upon their production. The laborers, here, represent those members of society who are able bodied, strong and fit. These civilizations were set up around the most profitable industry. The most productive class was considered to be the farmers, then down to proprietors such as merchants. The sterile class was considered those who charged a fee for land; landlords (Mazzucato, 2016). Tools were used for the purpose of producing as much as possible. The value of each laborer was in how much they could produce. The value of the business as a whole, lied in how much crop they could produce. In this model, each person’s worth lies in the amount of their production, thus quantifying the worth of a human soul. With such an intricate tie of self worth to production thus the race to production followed, of course, because who doesn’t want to be valued?
Industrial Revolution
In the 1800’s, the industrial revolution changed the value definition of a laborer. Hints of that change show us that the “price of labor is revealing their value” (Mazzucato, 2016). If the laborer is paid more, they are perceived as worth more. During this time, there is a rise of technology being used for production. The inventions were used to increase efficiency of production and maximize profit. At this time there are variances made between value creators and value takers. The labor theory of value focus is on reproduction.
Neo-Liberalism
The rise of neo-liberalism of the 1970’s to now has led to great innovations in technology and also an update on the way we view profit. There is a focus on how individuals make decisions with the advent of opportunity cost and profit (Mazzucato, 2016). Only now is economics beginning to factor in underlying motivations of choices through opportunity costs, but it is still multiplying that factor by the financial profit created in order to identify the laborer’s worth.
Underlying Principles
Beginning from a principle like this will always be limited. It is not coming from a human first model allowing all following operating systems to mimic the human body or allowing for the whole within many wholes of the human body to be the most valuable factor and point to begin from. Not only is defining civilization in this way, as a capitalist economy, limited, but it’s also dangerous. The danger lies in assigning worth and value to humans based on how well they can operate within the capitalist system.
When we define value in this way, a large portion of humans are left out; are devalued. When people are devalued they will be left out even more. Thus that cycle compounds on itself. “Once each life has a value which may be calculated, and some lives have less value than others, such a politics has the obligation to exercise this judgment in the name of the race or the nation" (Rose, 2007). When people are devalued, their human rights are at risk. When people are devalued, they are not able to fully participate in society. They are not able to fully enjoy and embrace life and be embraced and enjoyed in return.
As the person could not participate in profiting the society, they were seen as an outlier. As they were not bringing profit, they were not valued. Theoretical frameworks were established in order to support the ranking system. Two examples of such are the theory of eugenics and the Protestant workplace ideology. The rise of sterilization based on eugenics in the 1920’s and 30’s displayed how effective this theory is. Eugenics argued that there were those who were fit and healthy, balanced individuals. And that there were deformed, unable to participate, outliers who should be sterilized.
However,
The irony of this is that when we create human first systems, more profit is generated. When employees feel embraced, they create more. A survey study done and written about in the Harvard Business Review states that, “employees who feel welcome to express their authentic selves at work exhibit higher levels of organizational commitment, individual performance, and propensity to help others" (Goffee et. al., 2013). The research in this study showed how embracing the unique selves of your employees actually creates more profit for one’s company.
Citations
Goffee, R and Jones, G. (2000). Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2000/09/why-should-anyone-be-led-by-you
Mazzucato, M. “What is economic value and, who creates it.” Ted Talk Summit Conference. Published on July, 2019. Ted Talk video, 18:47. https://www.ted.com/talks/mariana_mazzucato_what_is_economic_value_and_who_creates_it.
Rose, N. 2007. Politics of life itself: biomedicine, power, and subjectivity in the twenty-first century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
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