Exploitation is a matter of surplus labour — the amount of labour one performs beyond what one receives in goods. Exploitation has been a socio-economic feature of every class society, and is one of the principal features distinguishing the social classes. The power of one social class to control the means of production enables its exploitation of the other classes
Under capitalism, the fruits of production belong to the employers, who expropriate the surplus created by others, and so generate alienated labourers. Alienation objectively describes the worker’s situation in capitalism — his or her self-awareness of this condition is unnecessary
also synonymous to “the economic interpretation of history”, The social features of a society (social classes, political structures, ideologies) derive from economic activity; “base and superstructure” is the metaphoric common term describing this historic condition.
hence, class consciousness is required before they can effect a successful revolution
In Marxism, political economy studies the means of production, specifically of capital, and how that is manifest as economic activity
The productive capacity of society is the foundation of society, and as this capacity increases over time the social relations of production, class relations, evolve through this struggle of the classes and pass through definite stages (primitive communism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism). The legal, political, ideological and other aspects (ex. art) of society are derived from these production relations as is the consciousness of the individuals of which the society is composed.
The productive capacity of society is the foundation of society, and as this capacity increases over time the social relations of production, class relations, evolve through this struggle of the classes and pass through definite stages (primitive communism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism). The legal, political, ideological and other aspects (ex. art) of society are derived from these production relations as is the consciousness of the individuals of which the society is composed.
Marx uncovered the interworkings of capitalist exploitation, the specific way in which unpaid labor (surplus value) is extracted from the working class labor theory of value, extending and critiquing the work of earlier political economists value. Although the production process is socialized, ownership remains in the hand of the bourgeosie. This forms the fundamental contradiction of capitalist society. Without the elimination of the fetter of the private ownership of the means of production, human society is unable to achieve further development.
It is apparent that I have increased the value that previously existed by 3 units; I have created 3 units of value. (This is assuming that my labour is of average quality, but more or less efficient labour can be accounted for simply by pro-rating the time: eg., if I work only two-thirds as fast as the average person, we could say that in 3 hours I create a value of only 2.)
In order to overcome the fetters of private property the working class must seize political power internationally through a social revolution and expropriate the capitalist classes around the world and place the productive capacities of society into collective ownership. Upon this, material foundation classes would be abolished and the material basis for all forms of inequality between humankind would dissolve.
Wage determination: Marx offered a theory of how a relative surplus population in capitalism tended to push wages to subsistence levels. Marx saw this relative surplus population as coming from economic causes and not from biological causes (as in Malthus). This economic-based theory of surplus population is often labeled as Marx's theory of the reserve army of labour.
Marx employed a labor theory of value, which holds that the value of a commodity is the socially necessary labor time invested in it. Capitalists, however, do not pay workers the full value of the commodities they produce, but compensate the worker for the combination of skill and time required to produce a given commodity. Marx theorized that the gap between the value a worker produces and his wage is a form of unpaid labour, known as surplus value. Moreover, Marx notes that markets tend to obscure the social relationships and processes of production, a phenomenon he termed commodity fetishism. People are highly aware of commodities, and usually don't think about the relationships and labour they represent.
From the French Physiocracy , The farmer labors on land (sometimes using "crafts") to produce food, fiber, and the like. The artisan labors to produce important capital goods (crafts) to be used by the other economic actors. The landlord is only a consumer of food and crafts and produces nothing at all. The merchant labors to export food in exchange for foreign imports. to classical economics, Land or natural resource – naturally-occurring goods such as water, air, soil, minerals, flora and fauna that are used in the creation of products. The payment for land use and the received income of a land owner is rent . Labor – human effort used in production which also includes technical and marketing expertise. The payment for someone else's labor and all income received from ones own labor is wages . Labour can also be classified as the physical and mental contribution of an employee to the production of the good(s). The capital stock – human-made goods (or means of production ) which are used in the production of other goods. These include machinery, tools and buildings.