The notion of labor force refers to the physical and mental ability of an individual to carry out a certain task.
Work force is the physical and mental ability of each individual to carry out a certain task . The expression was promoted by Karl Marx .
It should be noted that the concept of force has multiple meanings. Originating from the Latin fortĭa , it can be used to highlight the ability or power to generate movement in something or someone that causes resistance or has weight; to describe the resistance capacity against a push; the application of power whether physical or moral; the natural virtue that things possess in themselves; or the most vigorous state of something.
Work , for its part, constitutes the measure of the effort that an individual makes. From the point of view of economics , work is one of the essential factors to produce , just like capital and land . Work can be understood as the productive action that a subject carries out and in exchange for which he or she receives remuneration.
Before moving forward, it is interesting to note that force comes from the Latin word fortia , which is synonymous with "strong" , while work has its etymological origin in the Latin tripaliare , which was used to define a yoke with three sticks that was used to tie up the slaves who were going to be punished by whipping.
The labor force according to Marxism
For Marxism , labor power must be understood as a commodity whose monetary reward is determined by the time required to generate it. In this case, it is about establishing how long it takes to produce the means of subsistence. In short, the value of a labor force can be associated with what the consumer goods essential to the worker are worth or cost.
In this sense, it must be emphasized that it is established that in capitalism all labor power becomes directly a commodity . However, to allow this event to occur, two fundamental elements or aspects must take place: that the individual in question has the freedom to carry out that aforementioned force and that there is a need to sell it in order to achieve a means of subsistence.
The idea of labor power was developed by Karl Marx.
No equality
These questions and approaches led Marx to establish and demonstrate that in a capitalist society, there is no equality since the bourgeoisie is the one that has taken over the different means of production while the workers do not have the possibility of owning them. Hence, they find themselves in the situation and the need to sell the labor force they have to achieve the vital means of subsistence to survive.
A circumstance that ultimately leads to the enrichment of those who own these means of production thanks to the work and effort made by the workers.
It is interesting to note that Marxist theory differentiates between labor force and work itself, since the second is the realization of the potential that the first represents. In other words, work is what results from the application of labor power.