value-form

English

Etymology

Calque of German German Wertform, sometimes also translated as "form of value".

Noun

value-form (countable and uncountable, plural value-forms)

1. (Marxism) The social form of a commodity as a representation of value (socially necessary labour time).
   • 1887, Karl Marx, “Chapter I: Commodities; Section 3, The Form of Value, or Exchange Value”, in Samuel Moore, Edward Aveling, transl., edited by Frederick Engels, Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, Vol. I, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co., pages 14–15:

     Commodities come into the world in the shape of use values, articles, or goods, such as iron, linen, corn, &c. This is their plain, homely, bodily form. They are, however, commodities, only because they are something two-fold, both objects of utility, and, at the same time, depositories of value. They manifest themselves therefore as commodities, or have the form of commodities, only in so far as they have two forms, a physical or natural form, and a value form.

Translations

form of a commodity as a value

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 價值形式／价值形式 (zh) (jiàzhí xíngshì)

• Finnish: arvomuoto
• German: Wertform m