Preservation of value
In Karl Marx's theory, the preservation of the value of the means of production is, in addition to the transfer of values, a function of the concrete, useful side of labor (as opposed to abstract labor , whose function is value creation ) in the capitalist production process. When the worker consumes the means of production , he preserves their value, because this is the only way to transfer them to the new product. Marx speaks here somewhat flowery of the "migration of souls" of this value component. Without the specifically useful labor, the value of the means of production would perish through moral wear and tear or simply by wear and tear due to disuse .