Exploring Labor and Surplus Value in Capitalist Production

Our fifth episode covers chapters 7-9, which move us deeper into (absolute) surplus-value and the exploitation of labor power. We begin by distinguishing labor in general from labor power as a commodity, before uncovering the roots of surplus value in the exploitation of the latter. Surplus value and exploitation arise from the contradiction between the value and use-value of labor power. To explain this, Marx introduces the distinction between necessary labor and surplus labor, as well as the two forms of capital he’s concerned with in this book: constant capital and variable capital.

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