Concepts of Use-Value and Exchange-Value in Housing Research

This article looks closely at the concepts of use-value and exchange-value and their application in housing research. Critique of the prioritization of exchange-value under capitalism lies at the heart of a vast body of academic literature on the right to housing and the right to the city. However, most publications apply these terms not in their original meaning as categories of economic theory, but as normative categories, which leads to their moralization. To address this problem, this paper traces the transformation of use-exchange-value dialectics from its origin in Marxian value theory, throughout the writings of Lefebvre and Harvey to its current application in housing research. It identifies the sources of the positive bias associated with the concept of use-value and proposes an alternative interpretation differentiating between use-value in general, use-value of a commodity, and social use-value. This paper argues against the conflation of economic value and moral values in housing research.