Question

1)Discuss the personification of things and reification of persons in a World where real wages diverge from productivity. How does this alienation of labour affect surplus value?

2)Smith based his analysis on sentiments (wonder, surprise, and admiration in the essay on astronomy, sympathy in Theory of Moral Sentiments and self-interest in Wealth of Nations.) As a whole, what purpose do these sentiments serve in Smith’s analysis?

Answer 1

1)

                                    ‘Personification of things’ and ‘Reification of people’ are two major concepts that have been discussed by Marx which has a great influence on the economy of the world. In the current era, where the real wages are not matching with the productivity potential and outcomes, the discussion of these concepts are essential. By ‘Personification of things’, it is understood that things or products exists in a determined social form, for example, capital allows some to appear in the form of a capitalist and would make them powerful to have control over few people. ‘’Reification’ is the process by which social relations are perceived as inherent attributes of people involved in them or attributes of some product of relation such as a traded commodity.

                                    In general, surplus value is defined as the difference between the sales revenue and the cost of the materials of production. According to Marx, surplus value refers to the new value added by the workers in excess of their labour cost, which is calculated as profit by the capitalists. In the given case, it is said that the work accounted by the labour is getting alienated and hence they would attain a wage that is different from the labour value they put in. This means that the excess generated goes as profit margins and are being consumed by the capitalist class of the economy. The above alienation of labour from the process is expected to cause dissatisfaction among the workers and hence would result in the declining relation of the working class which could affect the productivity of the economy. Once the working class gets alienated from the labour value and gets utilised for profits, they would be forced to leave the work which would cause a labour deficit in the economy. Thus, personification and reification could help in identifying the labour issues within an economy and thus would be instrumental in determining the effects of such alienations.

2)                                

                                    The ‘Theory of moral sentiments’ is a work done by Adam smith who is being considered as the father of economics. It suggests that moral ideas and actions are a result of the nature of people and the society and economy under consideration. The following are expected to be the role of sentiments for Smith in accordance with the work

· Smith explains that self -interest and sympathy would play a better role in social judgements and thus would have influence on the economic transactions within an economy

· Smith states that although self-interest is a dominant factor, justice and beneficence are additional things that have to be adhered to so that the needs of the society are met and thus the economy could maintain a stable functioning

· He states the importance of morality and rewards in an economy and society and thus reiterates that moral behaviours could result in better rewards in an economy

                                       Thus, from the above features, it can be understood that sentiments plays a role in the society as functioning of an economy.