Class, Productive and Unproductive Labour - Journal of Alternative ...

Class, Productive and Unproductive Labour: Divisions in the Global Working Class?commodity came to be produced and sold to the“distribution” sphere, Shaikh and Tonak describe how thesurplus value of production labour ends up beingtransferred to the distribution sector (Shaikh and Tonak,2007:46). First, the production price of the commodityincludes $400 of materials which went into production, aswell as $200 of wages and $400 in surplus value which isrealized upon the sale of this commodity to the distributionsphere. In addition to this, Shaikh and Tonak demonstratethat an extra $200 is spent on the constant capital of thewarehousing and retailing facilities, $400 in distributionworker wages and an extra $400 in surplus value realizedupon the final sale of the commodity at $2000.This additional surplus value originated, despite beingrealized at the site of consumption, was initially extractedfrom the production sector but hidden in the pricemechanism. The structural position of the retailer withinthe process of production and consumption gives the retailerthe ability to bring the commodity to sale on the market, andthus the ability to realize a certain portion of the surplusvalue inherent in the commodity. The point made by Shaikhand Tonak is that the actual surplus value extracted fromthe production sphere is $1400. Given the distributionsphere cannot create value, it is paid for out of theproduction sphere’s surplus value.Considering the global division of labour, this exampletakes on a particular relevance. Recalling the ideal typeproduction economies and consumption economies, if thetotal global social wealth generated by production was $2000as per the example of Shaikh and Tonak, and theconsumption economies receive $1400 of appropriatedsurplus value, then there are clear exploitative consequencesthat flow from the global division between productive andunproductive labour.4. ConclusionThe structural divisions outlined in this article are likelyto have a significant impact on the ability of productiveworkers and unproductive workers to maintain long term46