A Comment on John Roemer's Theory of Differentially Exploited Labor

Abstract

This comment discusses John Roemer's Marxian theory of dis crimination (RRPE 10:2). On the one hand, Roemer's analysis is a positive accomplishment since he accepts previous historical and statistical research verifying the existence of various forms of discrimination and then tries to situate discrimination in Marx's theory of value and exploitation of labor. In doing so, he generalizes several theorems arrived at previously by Morishima, Okishio, et al. concerning the static relationships between differences in the rate of exploi tation, the real wage and the rate of profit. However, Roemer's analysis suffers from his attempt to make inferences about the dynamics of exploitation, discrim ination and capitalist development based on an essentially static model. Roemer's model is a good first attempt at introducing discrimination into Marx's labor theory of value, but such a line of analysis will ultimately require si tuating discrimination in Marx's theory of reproduction and accumulation, not just in his static theory of exploitation.