Propensity to Barter and Division of Labor

The decisive development in Smith's system is from its basic psychological premise, the propensity to barter, to its proposed fundamental determinant of wealth, namely, the division of labor. However, his exposition of the transition is so hasty, it is unclear if he notices the significant lacuna in it. Mediating the transition seems to be the concept of Specialization, i. e. the concentration of one party on the production of one good. However, Specialization does not suffice for the derivation of the concept of a Division of Labor. For, just as Division presupposes a Unity that has been divided, Division of Labor presupposes some togetherness of a plurality of laborers. In turn, such Togetherness is either biologically given, or else is the result of some instinct, neither of which can be derived from the Propensity to Barter. Thus, there is a significant, if not fatal, flaw in Smith's system, i. e. that the Propensity to Barter is not an adequate ground of it, one that inheres in all of its Capitalist successors in subsequent centuries.