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Subject:

"Socialization"

From:

Paul Adler <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Paul Adler <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 21 Nov 2000 11:06:18 -0800

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (75 lines)

Perhaps someone on this list can help me with leads on "socialization."

Here's some background to my question:

What should we understand by Marx's idea that the development of capitalism
means progressive (cumulative) "socialization" of the forces of production,
creating the material preconditions for socialism -- including (if I read
him right) a working class (-in-itself) increasingly capable of becoming
the bearers of society's general interests? What should we understand by
this notion of "socialization"? What form does this socialization take over
the (unbearably!) long history of capitalism? What forms are most important
to an understanding of the last 50 or 100 years? Who has written on this
topic?

More concretely: I read Marx's famous Grundrisse passage about
(socialization of production in the form of) the automatic system as
suggesting that when real productive capability depends so much on
society's overall stock of knowledge and so little on the production
worker's efforts, then the market mechanism -- regulation by exchange-value
based on labor time -- starts to lose "traction," and in this sense and as
a direct consequence, capitalism becomes increasingly obsolete. I think I
understand what this means when we talk in terms of "value," what does it
mean when we look at the phenomenal world of "price"? For Marx's thesis
(the one I impute to him) to be valid, it must surely mean that as
capitalism advances, the price-formation system starts to fall apart: what
would this mean? What evidence might we marshall to test this idea?

Indeed we have lots of evidence of market failures for knowledge goods (due
to public goods character): in particular, the growing importance of
education and government sponsored R&D can surely be read as signs of
socialization (under capitalism). Do any other "global" indicators of
socialization seem probative here?

But I wonder if we can also find evidence of this "loss of traction" within
the functioning of the business sector. Presumably, if knowledge is such a
problem for the market mechanism, we should be able to find evidence of
this in some facet of the price-setting mechanisms at work in specific
markets. But if you look at for example the pricing of R&D services by
Battelle or AD Little, or the setting of prices for consulting services or
technology licenses, I'm not sure I see any traction difficulties: these
firms just look at their costs of production (mainly labor-power (in the
form of the salaries paid to their "knowledge workers" and support staff)
plus any equipment depreciation costs)...then tack on whatever margins "the
market will bear." So where is the loss of  traction or "obsoleteness"
here?

One hypothesis might be that such markets evidence a higher degree of price
volatility: if the prices are set at levels that reflect social norms more
than "real" production costs, then perhaps one might expect more
volatility. But is this hypothesis a valid deduction? I can't make much
sense of the distinction between prices set by norms and by economic
factors. Can you?

Any thoughts on these issues would be most welcome!
Paul


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Prof. Paul S. Adler
Management and Organization Dept,
Marshall School of Business,
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808
USC office tel: (213) 740-0748
Home office tel: (818) 981-0115
Home office fax: (818) 981-0116
Email: [log in to unmask]
List of publications and course outlines at: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~padler/
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 




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