Labour power

High school (ages 12+)
Human Body

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/labour-power

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the theoretical foundation?A core concept in Marxist political economy, distinguishing potential from actuality
2. What is the historical precursors?Roots in classical economics' 'productive powers of labour' (Smith, Ricardo)
3. How is labour power different from labour?Labour power is the potential you have to work, while labour is the actual work you do. Think of it as having a toy that can be used (labour power) versus playing with the toy (labour).
4. Why is labour power important for making things?Labour power turns raw materials and tools into useful goods and services. Without people using their energy and skills, nothing would be built or made.

Labour Power: The aggregate of all physical and mental faculties which exist in a human being and which he or she exercises whenever producing use-values of any kind.
Labour: The purposeful activity of the human being, and therefore by itself a social condition, a human activity that adapts nature to man's purposes.
Commodification: The process by which something that is not usually bought or sold becomes an object that can be traded in a market.
Surplus Value: The value created by a worker over and above the value of their own labour power, appropriated by the capitalist.