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Marxian value theory

An anthropological perspective

Cornell University, USA, tst3@ cornell.edu

Marx's critique of political economy and analysis of the capitalist mode of production are grounded in more general ideas about human activity and social organization that, taken together, constitute an anthropology which is applicable in principle to all social systems and forms of social production, including those that do not involve the production and exchange of commodities. Marx's anthropology is built upon general notions of production, need, value, semiotic mediation, exploitation, alienation, the role of subjective activity and consciousness, and the structural properties of systems of social production as totalities. This article attempts to abstract the general forms and principles of these notions in terms applicable to non-commodity producing social systems. It identifies Marx's formulation of value theory as the most encompassing organizational framework of his anthropological ideas.

Key Words: activity • Marx • semiotic mediation • value theory

Anthropological Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1, 43-56 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1463499607087494


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