ABSTRACT
Analysis of value at increasing levels of complexity includes its relationship with class and exploitation (see chapters 3 and 4), and the expression of value as price (explained below).
Commodities are produced by a co-ordinated set of concrete labours usually performed at the farm, factory or office. These labours are performed with varying degrees of efficiency, diverse skills and distinct technologies, and at different points in time. In spite of these differences, all commodities of the same kind have the same value, which appears through their price. Output values cannot be identified at the firm or sectoral levels for two reasons: first, value creation is a social process determined by the predominance of specific relations of production, in which case individual production has meaning and significance only as part of the whole; second, values and prices are determined by the abstract labour time necessary to reproduce each type of commodity, including its inputs. In sum, the value form of the product is due to the social division of labour, values are quantitatively determined by the collective effort and the productive potential of society, and prices are determined for the mass of commodities rather than good by good or at the level of the firm or sector in isolation.
