Labour, Alienation, Accumulation in Capitalism

Abstract

This chapter is an overview of society under capitalism. Building on the discussion on Marx’s critique of political economy, the author provides a detailed analysis of Marx’s writings on different phenomena ranging from capital to wages, from surplus labour to accumulation. The chapter’s focus is on labour, alienation, and accumulation and their relations within capitalism. It shows how capitalist production develops with contradictions which are constantly surmounted but are also constantly posited. The discussions in this chapter lay the theoretical and conceptual groundwork for the chapters that follow.