ES 3219: Early Years Education, Week 2: Marx and the Commodification of Education Simon Boxley, 2009

Marx and the Commodification of Education  What do you see as valuable?  Can you extrapolate from this what value is?

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Use-value Use-value  The source of use-value lies in a combination of natural elements and its utility to humans;  Use value is found in the materiality of the thing;  Use-value is only realised in the use or consumption of the thing to satisfy a human want.

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Exchange value Exchange value  Things of use in a given society are exchangeable;  Exchange presupposes a form of equivalence;  The exchange-value of things is completely separate from their use-value;  That which any two exchangeable things have in common is that they share the human element – humans have engaged with them in some form or another. They include an element of human labour (in its broadest possible sense, human activity).

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Value Value  Value is a product of society.  It is a relation between things (and people).  Marx expresses value in metaphysical terms as being ‘embodied’ in those things which have been subject to human activity – labour.  However, don’t look within the commodity for value, look outward: value is a purely social, expression of the relation between commodities

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Socially necessary labour time Socially necessary labour time  The determinant of a commodity’s exchange value is the amount of labour time necessary to produce it: The labour time socially necessary is that required to produce an article under the normal conditions of production, and with the average degree of skill and intensity prevalent at the time (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p.306). The labour time socially necessary is that required to produce an article under the normal conditions of production, and with the average degree of skill and intensity prevalent at the time (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p.306).

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts The commodity The commodity  The products of labour assume the form of commodities when they enter into a relation with other products, i.e., when they are exchanged: The equality of all sorts of human labour is expressed objectively by their products all being equally values; the measure of the expenditure of labour-power by the duration of that expenditure, takes the form of the quantity of value of the products of labour; and, finally, the mutual relations of the producers, within which the social character of their labour affirms itself, take the form of a social relation between the products (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p.320). The equality of all sorts of human labour is expressed objectively by their products all being equally values; the measure of the expenditure of labour-power by the duration of that expenditure, takes the form of the quantity of value of the products of labour; and, finally, the mutual relations of the producers, within which the social character of their labour affirms itself, take the form of a social relation between the products (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p.320).

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts The commodity (continued)  Human labour-capacity itself is viewed by Marx as being a commodity. It is only this commodity which yields value. Labour power is, therefore, a commodity which its possessor, the wage worker, sells to capital…The free labourer…sells himself and, indeed sells himself piecemeal. He sells at auction eight, ten, twelve, fifteen hours of his life, day after day, to the highest bidder, to the owner of the materials, instruments of labour and means of subsistence, that is, to the capitalist (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p.205). Labour power is, therefore, a commodity which its possessor, the wage worker, sells to capital…The free labourer…sells himself and, indeed sells himself piecemeal. He sells at auction eight, ten, twelve, fifteen hours of his life, day after day, to the highest bidder, to the owner of the materials, instruments of labour and means of subsistence, that is, to the capitalist (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p.205).

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Commodity fetishism Commodity fetishism In order, therefore, to find an analogy, we must have recourse to the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world. In that world the productions of the human brain appear as independent beings endowed with human life, and entering into relation both with one another and the human race. So it is with the world of commodities with the products of men’s hands. This I call the Fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour, so soon as they are produced as commodities, and which is therefore inseparable from the production of commodities … (cont.) In order, therefore, to find an analogy, we must have recourse to the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world. In that world the productions of the human brain appear as independent beings endowed with human life, and entering into relation both with one another and the human race. So it is with the world of commodities with the products of men’s hands. This I call the Fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour, so soon as they are produced as commodities, and which is therefore inseparable from the production of commodities … (cont.)

Commodity fetishism (cont.) Since the producers do not come into social contact with each other until they exchange their products, the specific social character of each producer’s labour does not show itself except in the act of exchange… therefore, the relations connecting the labour of one individual with that of the rest appear, not as direct social relations between individuals at work, but as what they really are, material relations between persons and social relations between things (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: p. 321). Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts

Marx and the Commodification of Education  Which aspects of contemporary EY education could be said to have been ‘commodified’?  Be creative in your use of the concept of the commodity, but remember, a commodity must be the product of human labour, and it must be exchangeable.

Marx and the Commodification of Education The Subjects of Marxist Critique of Early Years Education ‘Bundles’ or ‘packages’ of knowledge: these might be said to be the desirable outcomes of planned teaching and learning activity. They are the product of both the child and teacher’s labour, they are the mental commodities which form the cornerstones of both cultural capital and the capacity to labour within a post- industrial economy; they might be said to be exchangeable for points on the Foundation Stage Profile, they might ‘buy’ access to curricula and further learning. ‘Bundles’ or ‘packages’ of knowledge: these might be said to be the desirable outcomes of planned teaching and learning activity. They are the product of both the child and teacher’s labour, they are the mental commodities which form the cornerstones of both cultural capital and the capacity to labour within a post- industrial economy; they might be said to be exchangeable for points on the Foundation Stage Profile, they might ‘buy’ access to curricula and further learning. EYFSP points: the quantified and calibrated products of school-work; exchangeable for National Curriculum levels and P-levels: small change in the qualification currency EYFSP points: the quantified and calibrated products of school-work; exchangeable for National Curriculum levels and P-levels: small change in the qualification currency

Marx and the Commodification of Education The Subjects of Marxist Critique of Early Years Education Children themselves: teachers are alienated from children by thinking of them in terms of levels. In so doing, they are relating to them exactly as other workers do to the alienated products of their labour in that it is the levels that seem to take on a life of their own; teachers’ job is to work towards or in relation to the levels. Children are commodities because of their future role in the labour market: their deferred value is exchangeable at a later date. In some Govt. publications on early years education, there is an emphasis on its role in producing good (compliant? employable?) citizens. Children themselves: teachers are alienated from children by thinking of them in terms of levels. In so doing, they are relating to them exactly as other workers do to the alienated products of their labour in that it is the levels that seem to take on a life of their own; teachers’ job is to work towards or in relation to the levels. Children are commodities because of their future role in the labour market: their deferred value is exchangeable at a later date. In some Govt. publications on early years education, there is an emphasis on its role in producing good (compliant? employable?) citizens. Teachers: we certainly sell our capacity to labour to the State, and there is plenty of evidence for the ways in which the labour market for teaching jobs is becoming a much more open market. Teachers: we certainly sell our capacity to labour to the State, and there is plenty of evidence for the ways in which the labour market for teaching jobs is becoming a much more open market.

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Alienation Alienation  Alienation is the estrangement which members of capitalist societies have from themselves and other human beings. Marx states that the objects which labour produces confront the labourer (producer) as something alien, as a power independent of the producer. The alienation of the worker in his product means not only that his labour becomes an object, an external existence, but that it exists outside him, independently, as something alien to him… (Marx, 1844 cited in Tucker, 1978; p. 72). The alienation of the worker in his product means not only that his labour becomes an object, an external existence, but that it exists outside him, independently, as something alien to him… (Marx, 1844 cited in Tucker, 1978; p. 72 ).

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Alienation (continued) Alienation (continued)  Marx proposes the following reasons for alienation: First, the fact that labour is external to the worker, i. e., it does not belong to his essential being; that in his work, therefore, he does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. He is at home when he is not working, and when he is working he is not at home. His labour is therefore not voluntary, but coerced; it is forced labour. It is therefore not the satisfaction of a need; it is merely a means to satisfy needs external to it (Marx, 1844 cited in Tucker, 1978: p. 72). First, the fact that labour is external to the worker, i. e., it does not belong to his essential being; that in his work, therefore, he does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. He is at home when he is not working, and when he is working he is not at home. His labour is therefore not voluntary, but coerced; it is forced labour. It is therefore not the satisfaction of a need; it is merely a means to satisfy needs external to it (Marx, 1844 cited in Tucker, 1978: p. 72).

Marx and the Commodification of Education Key Concepts Alienation (continued) Alienation (continued) The worker’s alienation has four aspects:  Alienation from objects he makes because they are not for his use;  Alienation from his own work as an activity because it does not contribute to his self- understanding; and in the labour process alienation from his peers because he is pitched into competition with them;  Alienation from his species because his work does not require him to reflect upon the nature and/or purpose of human existence.  Alienation from nature because his species being is a part of nature.

Marx and the Commodification of Education Alienated labour in education The bourgeoisie… has resolved personal worth into exchange value… The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage- labourers (Marx, in Tucker, 1978: pp ).  I  In which ways might education workers also be alienated?

Marx and the Commodification of Education Alienation in Early Years Education The teacher is alienated in four ways The teacher is alienated in four ways  from his/her pupils because they become commodities that the teacher produces;  from other teachers because they are his/her competitors for jobs;  from himself/herself because the learning interactions are externally imposed and therefore have no personal significance;  from his/her species because the content of school learning is not concerned with learning about the self.

Marx and the Commodification of Education Alienation in Early Years Education The student is also alienated: The student is also alienated:  from the work s/he undertakes because it is a commodity produced for, and at the request of, the teacher;  from other students because they are his/her competitors;  from himself/herself as a learner, because the learning that is undertaken is contrived and therefore not spontaneous, ‘natural’ or immediately useful ;  from his/her species because the content of his/her school learning is not concerned with learning about the self.

ES 3219: Early Years Education, Week 2: Marx and the Commodification of Education Simon Boxley, 2009 (edited D. M. B. 2011). Reference: Tucker, R. (ed) The Marx-Engels Reader London: Norton 2nd Edition