MARX'S LABOR THEORY OF VALUE AND THE NOTION OF POWER IN ECONOMICS

Hüseyin ÖZEL (Hacettepe University)

It is argued in the paper that Marx's Labor Theory of Value (LTV) is the only theoretical perspective in economics that is capable of establishing the important connection between the two aspects of the notion of "power"; namely, between the "agency" power as the basis of the human creative activity, or the praxis, and power as referring to the relations of domination among individuals. The starting point of the paper is Marx's understanding of human essence as the "species being", which is the basis of Marx's critique of capitalism that converts human creative activity, or the "objectification" of human essence, into "alienation", and of the fact that the affirmation of human freedom results in the loss of freedom in this system. Therefore, it is argued that Marx's LTV, being the only theory that can shed light on this process of subject-predicate inversion, can provide a real foundation for a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and the of the working of capitalist reality.