While there will be property in a concrete sense there cannot, however, be private property in the abstract sense that transforms property into a commodity (or a means for producing commodities). The recognition of your property as your property will be based on your right to its concrete specificity as valuable to you and as useful for you in leading your life, rather than on your right to its abstract value as a commodity that is bought and sold for profit. As long as the means of production are used for the sake of profit, our technology serves the commodification of both our labor and our leisure. But if we own the means of production collectively, we can pursue our technological development for the sake of our social freedom.
Because we are not producing for profit, we will be able to explore what we are able to provide in light of the needs of our society. Under capitalism we learn to produce in terms of “What is profitable?” whereas under democratic socialism we will learn to produce in terms of “What enables social individuals to flourish and how can we satisfy our needs in a responsible way?” The success of a product will then not depend on manipulative marketing strategies but on whether it can satisfy actual social needs, justify a high demand, and be produced in accord with standards (including environmental standards) for which we are responsible. Likewise, because we will not work for a wage, we will be able to ask ourselves what is meaningful and justifiable to do with our lives. Under capitalism we learn to work in terms of “How can I survive?” or “How can I get rich?” whereas under democratic socialism we will learn to work in terms of “Which occupations make sense for me to pursue, in light of my abilities and the needs of the society of which I am a part?”
The measure of value in capitalist production is thus what Marx calls “socially necessary labor time,” which designates the quantity of time it takes for the average worker in a society to produce a given commodity. The socially necessary labor time is not an absolute standard that can be established in advance, but relative to the technological means of production and the efficiency of the labor that is performed.