Piercing the mysteries of the value form

This influential collection of essays focuses on the elusive concept of "value," and aims to answer the question "Why is Marx’s theory of value so important?" Aboo Aumeeruddy and Ramon Tortajada introduce the key interpretive debates surrounding "value form," leading to seminal essays by Jairus Banaji and Chris Arthur. The labour theory of value is interrogated by Geoffrey Kay and Athar Hussain, and Diane Elson concludes with an argument for the importance of Marx’s "Value Theory of Labour." These incisive and erudite texts provide a crucial introduction to Marxist political economy, as well as advancing critical arguments for those already well versed in the field.

“Elson’s longstanding commitment to movements and initiatives for change outside as well as within academia has strengthened the applied as well as the theoretical aspects of her work.”
—Sylvia Chant, Fifty Key Thinkers on Development

“Elson has collected together a set of interesting essays (and added an extraordinarily penetrating piece of her own) that explore the revolutionary aspects to Marx’s theory in terms of the unity of rigorous science and politics. I have great sympathy with these arguments and view my own work as an explanatory essay along the lines that Elson has begun to define.”
—David Harvey, The Limits to Capital