 The Social and Material Transformation of Production by Capital: Formal and Real Subsumption in Capital, Volume IPatrick Murray Chapter 9 in The Constitution of Capital, 2004, pp 243-273 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract What is the purpose of production in those societies where wealth is generally produced in the form of commodities, that is, in those societies where the capitalist mode of production predominates? Marx’s answer to this simple, but commonly neglected, question enables him to begin the huge Chapter 15, ‘Machinery and large-scale industry’, by one-upping John Stuart Mill: John Stuart Mill says in his Principles of Political Economy: ‘It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being’. That is, however, by no means the aim of the application of machinery under capitalism. Like every other instrument for increasing the productivity of labour, machinery is intended to cheapen commodities and, by shortening the part of the working day in which the worker works for himself, to lengthen the other part, the part he gives to the capitalist for nothing. The machine is a means for producing surplus-value (492; my emphases1). Keywords: Social Form; Capitalist Production; Capitalist Society; Surplus Labour; Capitalist Firm (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-4039-3864-0_9 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
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