Capital is a central concept in Marxian
critique of political economy
Critique of political economy or critique of economy is a form of social critique that rejects the various social categories and structures that constitute the mainstream discourse concerning the forms and modalities of resource allocation and ...
, and in Marxian thought more generally.
Marxists view capital as a
social relation
A social relation or also described as a social interaction or social experience is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more individuals ...
reproduced by the continuous expenditure of
wage labour
Wage labour (also wage labor in American English), usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labour, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labour power under a ...
. Labour and capital are viewed as historically specific forms of social relations.
Marx on capital
Marx stated that "''Capital is dead labour, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.''"
See also
*Forms of capital in Marxism:
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Constant capital
Constant capital (c), is a concept created by Karl Marx and used in Marxian political economy. It refers to one of the forms of capital invested in production, which contrasts with variable capital (v). The distinction between constant and var ...
**
Variable capital
Constant capital (c), is a concept created by Karl Marx and used in Marxian political economy. It refers to one of the forms of capital invested in production, which contrasts with variable capital (v). The distinction between constant and vari ...
**
Fictitious capital
Fictitious capital (German: ''fiktives Kapital'') is a concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. It is introduced in chapter 25 of the third volume of Capital. Fictitious capital contrasts with what Marx calls "real capita ...
**''
Monopoly Capital''
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Robert Kurz
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Moishe Postone
Moishe Postone (April 17, 1942 – March 19, 2018) was a Canadian historian and social theorist. He was a professor of history at the University of Chicago, where he was part of the Committee on Jewish Studies.
Life and career
Postone was bor ...
*
Roman Rozdolsky
Roman Osipovich Rosdolsky ( uk, Рома́н О́сипович Роздо́льський ''Roman Osipovič Rozdol's'kyj'') (Lemberg, July 19, 1898 – Detroit, October 20, 1967) was a prominent Ukrainian Marxian scholar, historian and politica ...
* ''
Property is theft!
"Property is theft!" (french: La propriété, c'est le vol!) is a slogan coined by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his 1840 book ''What Is Property? or, An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government''.
Overview
By "pro ...
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Private property#Criticism
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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{{Economy-stub
Marxian critique of political economy
Marxism
Capital (economics)