Dialectical Materialism vs. "The New Physics"

by Mike Gimbel

Everything of value under capitalism is treated as a commodity. The worker must sell his or her labor power as a commodity priced below its actual value while being required, in the capitalist marketplace, to purchase commodities at their full actual value. Under capitalism, knowledge is a hugely prized commodity where the workers, lacking the necessary purchasing power, send their children to public schools and community colleges, while the bourgeoisie sends their progeny to fancy private schools and Ivy League colleges. In so doing, the ruling class, via their ownership of the means of production, is able to purchase a sufficient amount of the commodity called “knowledge” in order to maintain their dominance, just like when they purchase factories and other means of production. Knowledge is an important means by which to maintain power and, thus, the selling of education as a commodity is geared towards maintaining the power of the bourgeoisie.