Reading Capital With Comrades #5: EXPLOITATION (Ch. 7-9)
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Apr 26, 2021 Dive into the complexities of surplus value and labor exploitation. Discover the stark distinction between labor as a commodity and its effects on class struggle. Explore how capitalism influences both human experience and the environment. The podcast critiques traditional views on labor, illuminating the capitalist dynamics that allow for worker exploitation. It also tackles the relationship between skilled and unskilled labor, revealing how both play crucial roles in value creation within capitalist structures.
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Labor Transforms Humans and Nature
- Labor is a process where humans transform nature while also transforming themselves.
- Humans differ from bees because they create products first in their mind before making them physically.
Understanding Surplus Value Rate
- Necessary labor reproduces the worker's wage value; surplus labor creates surplus value for capitalists.
- The rate of surplus value equals surplus labor divided by necessary labor and indicates exploitation.
Personal Trainer Rate Anecdote
- Speaker 0 used their experience as a personal trainer to calculate their hourly rate of exploitation.
- Knowing the rate made exploitation transparent and helped understand surplus labor in gig work.