The Japanese history of Marxian value-form analysis: Focusing on the Unoist approach

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of Unoist value-form analysis and explore how it is currently being redeveloped in the Japanese studies. It was more than 70 years ago that Kozo Uno, who was the most influential Japanese Marxian economist, published his value theory: some of the arguments are naturally outdated now. It was not only Uno’s opponents but also Uno’s followers who criticise Uno’s notions and try to shape the better understanding of today’s capitalism. In Section 1, we shall first give a brief overview of Uno’s theory of value and consider why it could be accepted as the foundation of Marxian economics in Japan. Uno’s drastic reformulation could not help encountering oppositions. The most important debate was the one between Uno and Samezo Kuruma. Though the Kuruma-Uno debate is not easy to understand, it is a good reference point to grasp how important it has been for Japanese Marxists to establish the value-form analysis as a subject of economics. Section 2 will focus on the development of Unoist valueform analysis. We see rising trends of reinvestigating it among Japanese Marxist scholars against the background of the changes in modern capitalism. Michiaki Obata launched a radical critique of Uno’s methodology and has led the developments in the 21st century. We shall pick out some of the recent arguments and evaluate its progress.