View source for Surplus Value

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'''Surplus Value''' refers to the portion of [[Labour Value]] that is extracted from the worker by the [[Accumulating Class]] but not returned in the form of wages. It is the monetary expression of the difference between the value produced by labor and the value paid for that labor, and it forms the foundational mechanism of profit under capitalist systems.<ref>Marx, Karl. ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume I''. Penguin Classics, 1990.</ref>
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==Concept Map==

===Key Terms===

[[Regime of Accumulation]] > {{#ask:[[Is a key term::Regime of Accumulation]]|format=ul}}

[[Surplus Value]] > {{#ask:[[Is a key term::Surplus Value]]|format=ul}}

===Related LP Terms===

[[Surplus Value]] > {{#ask:[[Is a related LP term::Surplus Value]]}}

===Non-LP Related Terms===

[[Surplus Value]] > {{#ask:[[Is a related term::Surplus Value]]}}

==Why This Matters==

Surplus Value is the core exploitative mechanism of capitalist accumulation. By paying workers less than the full value of their labor, the [[Accumulating Class]] is able to systematically concentrate wealth, generate profit, and maintain control over the [[Means of Production]]. Understanding surplus value is critical to exposing the hidden theft embedded in wage labor and the structural violence inherent in market economies.

==Notes==

The video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir0R7yAFiO8 Money Moksha] offers a grounded and highly accessible explanation of Surplus Value and how its appropriation underpins capitalist accumulation.

* Introduced by Karl Marx as the foundational concept of capitalist critique in Volume I of ''Capital''.
* Surplus value extraction is directly enabled by mechanisms such as wage suppression, speed-up, and workplace discipline.
* Hidden through mystification of markets, money, and meritocracy.

==Quotes==

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"The value of labour-power, and the value which that labour-power creates in the labour process, are two entirely different magnitudes." — Karl Marx, ''Capital, Vol I''
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"Surplus-value is in every case the result of the lengthening of the working-day beyond that point where the worker would have reproduced the value of his labour-power." — Karl Marx, ''Capital, Vol I''
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"Capital is dead labour, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks." — Karl Marx, ''Capital, Vol I''
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[[category:terms]]  
[[Is a key term::Regime of Accumulation| ]]  
[[Is a related term::Labour Value| ]]  
[[Is a related term::Accumulation| ]]