Value

Value is often seen as something that individuals must own, pursue, or create for themselves through their choices, actions, and beliefs, and it has always been tied to labour and intellect. And as life has no inherent meaning, individuals must give it meaning through their subjective experiences and beliefs. From this standpoint, value is a subjective concept that varies from person to person and culture to culture. But as globalisation has standardised most nations under the same market and universal norms, today's value has almost the same meaning everywhere.

To understand the term 'value' from a different perspective, let's see it from a labour perspective. In medieval England, the term 'acre' referred to the area of land that a yoke of oxen was capable of ploughing in one day. However, Karl Marx established a framework in which the value of a product is not based on subjective judgement or market forces but is rooted in the labour expended in its creation. That's how we arrived at the hourly rate as the production value.

The labourer believes that the more difficult a task is, the more precious it ought to be. But according to the market standpoint, people value a product or service enough to pay a price that justifies their interest.

Ex: People seek medical or business school because they believe that the value of a doctor outweighs the cost of their human capital investment.

If the value of a product is not based on subjective judgement or market forces but is only rooted in the labour expended in its creation, then no business would ever go bankrupt, and because value is subjective, customers change their minds on a dime. Especially in the actual market, which is influenced by marketing and social media, we often have something trendy today and outdated within the next few weeks.

Value changes over time because it’s completely subjective; also, it’s related to social and cultural movements, and it’s in the heart, taste, mood, and mind of buyers/consumers, and it has nothing to do with the labour produced but rather in the communication, marketing, and the story around it.

In the market view, if you don’t provide value, customers determine which products, services, or businesses succeed or fail. We must satisfy the customer, which is where marketing and branding come in to evoke emotions and feelings to enhance value. Again, if labour is attached to value, how do we explain luxury goods? Why do Apple and Louis Vuitton, for example, have such command and pricing power, and they can charge five or ten times more than others and never go on sale?
It’s because they’re focused obsessively on value and the customer experience, and that’s what gives them that pricing power.

In the contemporary era, brands and corporations act as a promise of stability and quality. A product’s price reflects the perceived value of the company as well as societal values. As a result, buying from specific brands does more than just obtain a product; it provides a feeling of prestige. The item becomes a symbol, enhancing the owner’s perceived identity and value through its related brand story. Where wealth, material possessions, and social standing are highly valued, a person’s status and possessions are considered an indicator of their value. 

As Niccolò Machiavelli said, “It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.”

To conclude: Throughout the entire human history. Money is the only product or idea that is disconnected from labour and trends, and it has many controversies, especially when it involves making value from it, which is making money from money (usury), and many religions and philosophies believe that money does not contribute to the production of real value.