Session 1

Capital is a critique of Smith and Ricardo.

Did not see Capital published in english in his lifetime .

explain capitalism in history and workings. and to point towards transcending capitalism.

Marx is a materialist as opposed to Hegel’s idealism. I.e. reality first

understanding is a process of mental appropriation!

Marx’s theory of value is most important / keystone

Marx is not uniqie in criticsiing capitalism. eg anarchism etc

Conventional economics just assumes existence of money, not the why / wherte does it come from. and similarly thw why’s in the above slide.

material reproduction in capitalism & how does this relate to social structures

Labour is central to theory and also society is not possible without labout

by capitalism, Marx means the last three points above

Wage labour is ancient, but becomes dominant in the industrial period. rather than serfdom, peasant landowner

exploitation in capitalism is impersonal no longer direct relationship with slave owner)

Labour power is exchanged for wage , rather than actual labour

david harvey videos Alfredo Saad Filho has also written a book

the audience is the working class

even though literacy is better now than in Victorian times, working class might be deliberately dumbed down

the idea of Marxism has been tainted in some way in liberal circles - is Marxism perceived as a mystifier rather than an actual demystifier

atomisation of society,