Assignment #4
Sociology of Work
Assignment # 4
In Chapter Two of Karl Marx’s “ Wage Labour and Capital,’’ he begins to define what wages are and their relationship to labor. Marx’s defines wages to be “that wages are the amount of money which the capitalist pays for a certain period of work or certain amount to work”(Marx), Marx begins by stating that despite the different type of work a worker does they all have one thing in common and is a wage. Marx describes a wage to be an exchange of trade between the worker and the employee. It is a transaction in which the employee sells his labor or trade and time to the employee to receive money for their commodities. Marx goes in to explain how time is what capitalist buy whether is an hour, a day or week; the essential is the time of a worker. As the employee commits to his labor, the capitalist will pay him his wage. The wage the capitalist gives the worker allows him to buy commodities weather is meat, clothing, or shelter.He is only capable of doing so, due to his time spent laboring to earned a paid wage. The way I was able to understand Marx theory of wages, commodities and labor are all a domino effect. The capitalist pays for the workers time, in which the worker spends his hours, days, etc. In providing a service for the capitalist in exchange, he receives a wage that allows his to support themselves and lifestyle. As Marx states that ”wages” is the fancy term in which is use to decide the price of one’s time spent laboring.
Marx goes on to explain his theory of wages by using the example of a Weaver; the Weaver is giving the loom and yard by the capitalist. Once the weaver is supplied with the loom and yard, he goes to producing cloth. The capitalist now has his cloth and will continue to sell his cloth for 20 shillings.The Weaver has been paid for his labor and will in no way be sharing the earnings in which the capitalist will receive from demand and supply of his cloth. The Weaver has no concern in what the capitalist will do or if he would even make a profit of the cloth he produced, with the weaver been paid his wages for his labor he no longer has anything to do with the product or selling of the cloth. As the weaver has no connection to the final product with the cloth he finds himself just working to get by and earn a wage to pay for his commodities. Marx explains that the hours the weaver spends does not fulfill him in any satisfying way until he is giving his wages, that is when the weaver start to enjoy his life.
After reading Marx wages and labor piece, I believe more in one should choose a career in which you enjoy. The fact that you will be spending long hours, days and years to come in the laboring to earn a wage to be able to survive and be able to pay for your commodities.
