I illustrated a real conversation I had with a friend 2 days ago…. She asked me why I priced my art so low, and then asked if I knew what is surplus value. I didn’t very much, so she then explained it to me. I was like, no, this is actually very different, oh ho ho, well, the materials themselves were provided to me by the school for free* I only spent hours putting everything together and drawing it so it wasn’t worth very much.
The embarrassment I felt as she said, “star, you illustrated my point perfectly. You are so good at giving me examples”
Then I was like. Wait, you should pay people for their time too? I didn’t think my time was worth any money, and then she judged me ever harder (very silly)
Very silly goofer doodle to share with you all :))
Surplus value is the difference between the hourly wage and the value of the product produced. In your case they are rolled into one, resulting in a very low time compensation, but you are getting the surplus value.
You're not exploiting yourself, you're undervaluing your time and your production.
Yay thank you for the explanation!!!!!! /gen