In Defence of Marx's Account of the Nature of Capitalist Exploitation
ABSTRACT: According to Marx, "at any given epoch of a given society, [there is] a quantity of necessaries [recognized as] the necessaries of life habitually required by the average worker." The variations in the type and amount of goods recognized as necessary for life between different epochs and different societies is due to the different 'physical conditions' and to the different 'degrees of civilization' and 'comfort' prevalent. In advanced capitalist societies, the necessities of life include a heated dwelling, food, clothing, and access to some means of transportation, be it public or private. However, the average laborer in advanced capitalist societies has …show more content…
In this paper, I will (I) explain Marx's theory of the nature of capitalist exploitation; and (II) indicate how the phenomenon described in the previous paragraph may be interpreted as evidence against Marx's theory, and sketch an interpretation of this phenomenon according to which it is consistent with Marx's theory. My interpretation will suggest that the average worker's access to luxury items can be explained by the necessity in capitalism of reproducing the working class.
(I) In some of his early works, Marx suggests that the poverty of the workers goes hand in hand with capitalist production. For example, in "Alienated Labor" he claims that in capitalist society, "labor produces marvels for the wealthy but it produces deprivation for the worker" (61). Indeed, "so much does the realization of labor appear as diminution [of the worker] that the worker is diminished to the point of starvation" (61).
This view, that as a necessary result of the capitalist mode of production the average
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