Summary Of Tuesday's Class By Dr. Malott

On Tuesday’s class, Dr. Malott gave a technical lecture on capitalism. He was very thorough and provided many graphics and examples to explain the concepts imbedded within capitalism in terms of the labor force. The first graphic that he presented to the class analyzed both feudalism and capitalism. In his commodity, money, commodity graphic, his direct focus was feudalism and how products of labor are directly measured by labor hours. In this concept, there is an exchange of equivalents. Next, he explained capitalism through his money, commodity, change in value model. Capitalism begins with a summation of money, which is then changed for a commodity. The exchange of money for a commodity results in an increase in money. In this model, the producers were creating large workshops that were centered around planning production and socialized labor. Through this model, there was an increased division of labor that extended over time. Dr. Malott provided an example of the division of labor through the making of a chair. One worker typically will make the chair as a solo job. However, over time, other workers begin to help

Malott honed in on the concept of the composition of capitalism through a graphic and he also provided two charts that explain the crucial components of this concept. In his graphic, he explained how the cost of raw materials is less than the value of the final product. With such, the value of the commodities and money are increased. Further, he gave a scenario from the view of the capitalists. He stated that if you are a capitalist, you need to acquire a specific amount of labor hours and means of production to produce a product. This was shown with his cough drops taped to the whiteboard. He defined the means of production as everything needed to produce the product. In regards to his cough drop example, the means of production would include the sugar, the eucalyptus, the building, the machines, and the raw