Capitalist exploitation simply means the fact that after its commodification the price of your work force on the market is much lower than the value it produces.
Think about it this way: worker X in company Y is producing commodity Z (goods&services). But a wage's worth of commodity Z is created by worker X in only a few hours of labour. The value his work force is rented for by the capitalist is much smaller than the value it creates. The private person owning company Y (don't forget corporations are also legal private subjects) then
appropriates the surplus value created by the labourer.
Simply put: if a labourer creates the value of his wage in a very small amount of his labouring time, who then, is he in fact labouring for most of the time?
Not only does capitalist exploitation entail that most of the value that working people create will be appropriated from them, but also that their limited precious time on this planet will be appropriated from them.
Think about it this way: worker X in company Y is producing commodity Z (goods&services). But a wage's worth of commodity Z is created by worker X in only a few hours of labour. The value his work force is rented for by the capitalist is much smaller than the value it creates. The private person owning company Y (don't forget corporations are also legal private subjects) then
appropriates the surplus value created by the labourer.
Simply put: if a labourer creates the value of his wage in a very small amount of his labouring time, who then, is he in fact labouring for most of the time?
Not only does capitalist exploitation entail that most of the value that working people create will be appropriated from them, but also that their limited precious time on this planet will be appropriated from them.
Mark sold 100 fast food meals priced at $5 in 8 hours. In two days the total value he creates is $1000. Yet he has to work for a full month to receive a salary, a wage of $800. Because Mark in unaware of capitalist exploitation he believes he is reverencing a fair pay for his work when in fact he is labouring extensively for the profit of other people.
by daskapital July 13, 2014