Value
Define surplus value.
The value produced by workers in the capitalist system of production which is over and above that which goes to pay their wages, and the costs of raw materials, overhead, and other expenses required to keep the production process going. It is the use value of labor power. It is exploited by the capitalists.
Define capital.
Wealth (defined as currency, land, machinery, buildings and/or hired labor) that is devoted to the production of more wealth.
Define labor.
The work a worker does in the production process.
The value added to a commodity through the labor of workers. This value is always higher than the value of the labor power.
Value Augmentation
The definition of wages
The compensation that workers receive for their labor. This compensation never equals the value or price of labor, rather it is a disguised form of the value or price of labor power.
The ability and willingness to perform the required labor at the specified time and place. This is the worker’s ability to work, which is what is sold to the capitalist for the wages received.
Labor Power
Give the name for the formula of m/v where m is surplus labor time and v is necessary labor time or variable capital
The formula for the rate of surplus value.
Name the thing that determines the degree to which a capitalist is exploiting their workers?
The rate of surplus value
What makes labor power a "special commodity"?
Labor power is special because it has the ability to create value that is higher than the value of itself.
Define the goal of capitalist production.
Commodity production aimed at reaping surplus value.
Give the term used for the separation of labor and the worker from the conditions of labor, which confront him as independent forces
Primitive accumulation
What can be defined as the two conditions under which labor power is sold as a commodity in capitalist society?
The worker is free to sell their labor power as a commodity, and the worker owns nothing of substance except their labor.
Circulation Theory of Value
Bourgeois theory that profit is created in the exchange of commodities rather than in the production process
How do capitalists exploit workers?
The expropriation (theft) of the labor of a worker (via the extraction of surplus value) by the owners of the means of production (the capitalists).
Explain the difference between nominal and real wages.
The nominal wage is the amount of money that one receives for the work they do, while the real wage reflects the real purchasing power of the individual's wage when the cost of living is accounted for.