Tag Archives: Critical Summary

Chapter 11 of volume 1 of Capital is called “The Rate and Mass of Surplus-Value” (Marx 1990: 417), and it deals with further aspects of surplus value.In essence, Marx makes a number of points in this chapter as follows: (1) the rate of surplus value is dependent on the duration of the working day and the value of labour-power;(2) the total mass of surplus value can be measured by s/v multiplied by the value of total variable capital, and capitalists wish to maximise the mass of...

Chapter 8 of volume 1 of Capital is called “Constant Capital and Variable Capital” (Marx 1990: 307), and it discusses non-labour factors (constant capital) and living labour (variable capital).Marx divides capital as factors of production into two categories: (1) constant capital, and(2) variable capital (Marx 1990: 317). Constant capital is the means of production used in the production process whose values are merely transferred to the output product (Marx 1990: 307; Harvey 2010: 128).How...

Chapter 7 of volume 1 of Capital is called “The Labour Process and the Valorization Process” (Marx 1990: 283), and it discusses the process of labour and surplus value.It is divided into two sections: (1) The Labour-Process or the Production of Use-Values.(2) The Production of Surplus-Value (also called “The Valorization Process” in Marx 1990: 293). A critical summary of these two sections follows.(1) The Labour-Process or the Production of Use-Values Capitalists buy labour-power from...

Chapter 4 of volume 1 of Capital is called “The General Formula for Capital,” and begins Part 2 of that work (which consists of Chapters 4, 5, and 6). Chapter 4 presents Marx’s theory of the essence of commodity production under capitalism: the desire for money as expressed in the formula money–commodity–money (M–C–M), which is the circuit of capital (Brewer 1984: 34).Capitalism involves the production and circulation of commodities, and these are its “starting-point” and historical...

Updated: This post is a work in progress at the momentChapter 1 of volume 1 of Capital is called “The Commodity,” and presents Marx’s theory of the commodity and labour value.Chapter 1 is divided into four sections: (1) The Two Factors of the Commodity: Use Value and Value(2) Dual Character of the Labour embodied in Commodities(3) The Value-Form, or Exchange-Value(4) The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret. Interpreters of Marx admit that the first few chapters of Capital are made...