ABSTRACT
The distinction between labor and labor power is a basic concept in Marxian economics and one of the central points developed by Marx in volume one of Capital. Marx discovers the unique aspects of the commodity labor power in the first draft of Capital. Labor power has two dimensions to it, duration and capacity. The duration of labor power is easily measured in units of time, and monitoring the amount of time a worker puts in on a job is routine in most workplaces. A quantity of labor has three dimensions: duration, capacity, intensity. This chapter considers the question of the relationship between social relations and the productive forces in society. The difference between labor and labor power, and the consequent labor extraction problem, make it possible to recognize the exchange of labor power for a wage as a social institution that is inferior to some form of collective worker ownership.
