commodities remix part 1 of 2

[Ponuh]

This is one of the best videos I've ever seen on youtube. I rediscover it a few times a year and it impresses me every time. I've shown it to some people and it's been received really well; I've tried to explain commodity fetishism but I don't have the gift for reductive, expansionary explanation that you do. Well done.

[Ilikenuman]

is your mothers name Martha?

[Catholicboy4life]

Just a quick question, is your "abstract-concrete" method of analysing social relations taken directly from Marx? or is it your own creative take?

I find this a good way of looking at the social world, as I am a history student that often has difficulty linking all the complex detail of specific historical events to more abstract macro-theories.

[brendanmcooney]

This is mostly my understanding of Marx's methodology based on my own observations of his method and not an explicit analysis of his approach. I think a more explicit study would involve getting more acquainted with Hegel... an eventual goal of mine, but not something I am ready to undertake yet.

[Jpom22]

modern workers DO see each other, some have work-class consciousness, derive personal identity, sense of own social value from job! relate to co-workers thru that social value = social relation between people. something wrong with the term "social product"? the basis requires denying social relation between workers, only affirm relating thru commodities. mixing apples and oranges, social with economic, abstract with concrete. nothing abstract about work! dig a ditch, suffer real charlie horse!

[brendanmcooney]

I think you have missed the finer points of the argument. I have not claimed that commodity exchange doesn't produce class consciousness or inform personal identity. To the contrary commodity exchange is essential for understanding how these are formed. Commodity relations are social relations. The social is economic.

Work is concrete on the individual level but in order to be exchanged it also takes on an abstract value. If it weren't for this abstraction exchange would be impossible.

[Badwolf182]

VERY clear explanations which is not the norm on utube.

I watched this amazing vid called 'the magnificent deception' by robert menard (c google vids) and his info is fantastic BUT all over the place. hard to follow.

So well done here

[yeahwotevaman]

OK you lost me at 4:30ish. In most hunter-gatherer societies hunters and gatherers are not mutually exclusive at all. Although there is some division of labour in those societies it is very minimal.

[brendanmcooney]

from wikipedia:

"A vast amount of ethnographic and archaeological evidence demonstrates that the sexual division of labor in which men hunt and women gather wild fruits and vegetables is an extremely common phenomenon among hunter-gatherers worldwide, but there are a number of documented exceptions to this general pattern."

Regardless, the point here is to give a very simple example of the way different producing groups relate to each other.

[yeahwotevaman]

I think that is a projection of 'civilised' social relations onto pre-civilisation forms of society. It doesn't really help to illustrate the later points about class hierachy, which are exclusive to civilisations.

[brendanmcooney]

I think you are projecting some other argument onto the argument I am making.

I am explaining the way different producing groups relate to each other in a society- how private labor implies a greater set of social relations. I am saying that we must understand economics through an analysis of the way different groups relate to the production of the social product, and how individuals relate to these groups. I am not saying that hunter gatherer societies had class hierarchy.

[t0kt0k]

Ahhhh did not need the extreme closeup at 3:30.

Great video, but come on--keep sudden cuts to 3 inches from your face out of it!

[milt0nics]

I like your face Mr. B... Share it with the world!

[RevolutionarySpectre]

great work as usual, I wish I could express these ideas as well as you do.

[thexjib]

I disagree with your economic conclusions for the most part but your analysis is always illuminating and I love your videos. You just motivated me to make a video challenging your abstract concrete conception. I think this is a really important point.

[brendanmcooney]

Thanks. I look forward to seeing this video. Please post it as a response.