Summary Of "The Capital" By Karl Marx: UNIVERSITY SUMMARIES

By MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU

We have summarized the essentials of the following chapters of this masterpiece of Marxist thought: "The Fetish Character Of Goods And Its Secret", "Valuation Process", "Transformation Of Money Into Capital", among others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BOOKS AND SUMMARIES BY MAURICIO FAU
• Release date: Oct 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201820640

MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU

Mauricio Enrique Fau nació en Buenos Aires en 1965. Se recibió de Licenciado en Ciencia Política en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Cursó también Derecho en la UBA y Periodismo en la Universidad de Morón. Realizó estudios en FLACSO Argentina. Docente de la UBA y AUTOR DE MÁS DE 3.000 RESÚMENES de Psicología, Sociología, Ciencia Política, Antropología, Derecho, Historia, Epistemología, Lógica, Filosofía, Economía, Semiología, Educación y demás disciplinas de las Ciencias Sociales. Desde 2005 dirige La Bisagra Editorial, especializada en técnicas de estudio y materiales que facilitan la transición desde la escuela secundaria a la universidad. Por intermedio de La Bisagra publicó 38 libros. Participa en diversas ferias del libro, entre ellas la Feria Internacional del Libro de Buenos Aires y la FIL Guadalajara.

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Summary Of The Capital By Karl Marx

UNIVERSITY SUMMARIES

MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU

Published by BOOKS AND SUMMARIES BY MAURICIO FAU, 2021.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

SUMMARY OF THE CAPITAL BY KARL MARX

First edition. October 13, 2021.

Copyright © 2021 MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU.

ISBN: 979-8201820640

Written by MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Marx, Karl

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Further Reading: Summary Of Economy And Society By Max Weber

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About the Author

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Marx, Karl

THE CAPITAL

CHAPTER 1 THE FETISH CHARACTER OF THE GOODS AND ITS SECRET

The fetishistic character of the commodity world stems from the social nature of commodity-producing labor. It is only in their exchange that the products of labor acquire an objectivity of value, socially uniform, separated from their objectivity of use, sensorially diverse.

The determination of objects for use as values ​​is a social product. It is precisely this finished form of commodities - the form of money - that conceals the social character of private jobs, and therefore the social relations between individual workers.

The existing social relationships between people in their work are revealed not as their own personal relationships, but rather they appear disguised as social relationships between things, between the products of work.

Products appear as merchandise, that is, values, and PRIVATE JOBS ARE HIDDEN AMONG THINGS, as undifferentiated human labor. The fetishism attached to the world of commodities is the objective appearance of the social determinations of work.

WHAT MATTERS IN THE MERCHANDISE IS NOT THE USE VALUE (what it is for) BUT THE EXCHANGE VALUE (for how many goods can I exchange it). The value (exchange value) is an attribute of things, the riches (use value), an attribute of man.

What does Marx mean by all of the above? That what appears to us as a relationship between things (eg, a shirt = 10 meters of fabric, or a car = $ 18,000) is a relationship between people hidden behind a relationship between things.

«FETISHISM OF THE MERCHANDISE» MEANS THAT THINGS, THE PRODUCTS OF HUMAN LABOR, ARE SEEN AS IF THEY HAD LIVES OF THEIR OWN, INDEPENDENT OF WHO MADE THEM WITH THEIR WORK

AND THIS IS SO, BECAUSE in capitalism, things are produced, not with the intention of satisfying needs, but for the capitalist to make a profit.

WHAT FETISHISM HIDES IS A SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP OF EXPLOITATION, WHERE THE CAPITALIST CLASS LIVES WITHOUT WORKING, ACCUMULATING CAPITAL BASED ON THE WORKING CLASS, ON THE WORK OF THE WORKING CLASS

EVERY THING THAT EXISTS IS THE FRUIT OF WORK. CAPITALISM NEEDS TO HIDE THAT, BECAUSE OTHERWISE, THE FACT THAT IT IS A SOCIAL SYSTEM BASED ON THE EXPLOITATION OF MAN BY MAN (Marx said that, in capitalism, he who works does not accumulate and he who accumulates does not work).

Marx's struggle went through the revolutionary destruction of capitalism by the exploited, for the construction of a society without exploiters or exploited, socialist society, towards communism.

CHAPTER 2 VALUATION PROCESS

Every product, such as thread, buttons, or any other, has a use value and is owned by a capitalist. But THE CAPITALIST DOES NOT MANUFACTURE THINGS FOR THEIR PROFIT, BUT FOR THEIR EXCHANGE VALUE. What matters to him about the product is that it be a commodity, that is, an item to be sold.

And in addition, he is interested in the value of that commodity being greater than the sum of the values ​​of the commodities necessary to produce another, including the means used for its production and the labor force necessary in the process. The capitalist only produces a use value if it is at the same time an exchange value, and provides him, not only value, but a surplus value, surplus value.

Let's analyze the VALUE FORMATION PROCESS: THE VALUE OF ALL GOODS IS DETERMINED by the amount of work materialized in its use value, that is, BY THE WORK TIME SOCIALLY NECESSARY TO PRODUCE IT.

This working time is supposed to be normal at that time and place, according to the state of the art and technology. If a capitalist has the fantasy of using spindles of gold instead of iron, that will not be taken into account in calculating the value (it is not socially necessary that the spindle be made of gold). For example, it takes 10 pounds of cotton to make a yarn. The capitalist goes to the market and buys the cotton for its value, say, 10 shillings. In addition, the wear on the spindles (the reels) has to be computed, which is equal to 2 shillings. Thus, 10 pounds of yarn is the equivalent of 10 pounds of cotton and ¼ spindle. The same working time is represented, once by the use value of the yarn, the other by the use values ​​of the cotton and the spindle. But the value, regardless of whether it appears in the form of yarn, cotton, etc., is always the same. The yarn, the final product, contains in its bosom past works (of those who made the spindle, those who made the cotton and those who made the yarn with them). It is that what gives value to things, the work they contain.

In this way, the means of production, cotton, and use are kept within two days of work, or its monetary equivalent, that is, 12 shillings. Now let's see what value the spinner's work adds. Only by the fact that both contain work is it possible to interchange, for example, a barrel and a yarn. One is the product of the cannon driller, the other of the spinner. Here, the QUALITY OR VALUE OF USE (that the barrel is used for war and the yarn for clothes) does not matter, but the QUANTITY OR EXCHANGE VALUE (that one product is exchangeable for another, because both contain something in common, namely , job). If 1 2/3 pounds of cotton is spun in one hour, that is, it is transformed into 1 2/3 pounds of yarn, 10 pounds of yarn is equivalent to 6 hours of work absorbed.

Now, THE WORKER HAS NOT SOLD HIS WORK ON THE MARKET, BUT HIS LABOR FORCE, that is, his energy transformed into merchandise that, like all merchandise, has a price. THIS PRICE IS THE SALARY. Thus the capitalist buys a day's worth of labor power for 3 shillings. The price of this commodity arises from calculating the amount of work that the worker needs to produce the average sum that is equivalent to the means of subsistence that he needs daily to live. We said that in the process of spinning cotton absorbs 6 hours of work. The same working time is contained in a quantity of gold of 3 shillings. Hence, by spinning it, the worker adds to the cotton a value of 3 shillings, which is what he had received in the market as wages.

So we have the TOTAL VALUE OF THE PRODUCT (the 10 pounds of yarn): 2 ½ days of work (2 days contained in the cotton and the spindle, and ½ day of work, that is 6 hours, of the spinner), which is equivalent to 15 shillings (12 + 3). The capitalist does not understand what happens: the value of the product is equal to the value of the capital that he advanced at the beginning of the process. Sure enough, he gave 15 shillings (10 for cotton, 2 for spindle wear and 3 for labor power). In this way, the value that he advanced has not been valued, it has not generated surplus value. Therefore that money has not been transformed into capital; it has not closed the circle that moves a capitalist economy. The capitalist does not want the yarn, since he has not manufactured it to consume it (he is not interested in its use value, its utility) but to sell it (he is interested in its exchange value).

Our capitalist will argue, then, to try to justify his necessary role in the production process and, therefore, the justice of receiving a profit. He will say that he is the one who gives the worker the raw material, the means of production, etc., that he risks his capital, that he does a great service to society and the workers, by giving them work and means of subsistence. Doesn't he have the right, our poor capitalist, to receive a reward for all this?

The daily value of labor power was 3 shillings, the equivalent of half a day's work (which covers the subsistence needs of the worker) that is to say that we are talking about the exchange value of labor power. However, the fact that half a day's work is necessary for his 24-hour subsistence does not prevent the worker from working a whole day. One thing is the value of labor power