communist manifesto; fragments on machine; estranged labor; fetishism of commodities

bourgeois mode of production

instruments of producing technological innovation/advances, commodification of all labor, creation of bourgeoisie’s own demise

social contract

no pure form of capitalism outside of…

walmart economy (harvey)

when wages hit historic lows, capital has the ability to lower the prices to make it seem like wage laborers can buy more and are therefore less poor; “more stuff = more wealth”

bourgeois response to overproduction

enforced destruction of productive forces, conquest of new markets (ex. healthcare), and more sophisticated exploitation

overproduction

capitalist mode of production (striving for constant economic growth and creation of new markets) leads to…

commons

community owns means of production collectively to produce all of life’s needs and distribute them equally in a just manner

proletarian revolution

inevitable response to capitalism to create communism

economy

set of relations between people— not things

living labor

“actual labor process”; capacity of a person to perform work and expend energy into the production of goods and services; what is exploited to create surplus value

“freedom” critique

free competition does not equate to individual freedom, only serves capitalism

general intellect

general social knowledge or collective intelligence of a society at a given historical period (materialized in production)— supposed to be communal, but has been co-opted by capitalism

significance of machine

prophesying about the instrumentation of technology within the capitalist mode of production; what is the effect on living labor?

capital

dominant social relationship in capitalist society

commodity social relation

specific articulation of a social relation that between the wage-worker and the capitalist owning the means of production; “circuit of value production”

estranged labor premise

man makes his life activity itself the object of his will and consciousness— how is this effected by the social construct of capitalism?

labor premise

ontological foundation of human existence, self actualization, and creativity

species being

innate labor capacity defines us as this; equivalent to human being; we remodel our lives based on our own desires

two sided production

universal activity; labor is a form of self expression and free creativity rather than simply for the purpose of survival

one sided production

only in accordance with physical needs and instincts; differentiates animals from humans

alienation

human beings are not at home in the world because they are not at peace with themselves (source of suffering)

externalization

labor transforming into an actual physical object, therefore allowing it to be separated from the worker

objectification (externalization)

you recognizing yourself in your own environment through an object created by your labor, “psychologically necessary” for becoming conscious of yourself as a human being through seeing your own agency materialize

capitalism, objectification

under _________, you are no longer in charge of the _____________ of what you produce because whatever you create is no longer yours

4 dimensions of alienated labor

estrangement from the thing you create, estrangement from labor process/labor itself, estrangement from the species-being, social estrangement from other workers

estrangement from the thing you create

Fruits of your labor stare back as an alien force because you cannot recognize yourself in the products that you make; under capitalism, capacity of what you produce can’t be returned back to you due to its transformation into capital

estrangement from labor process

labor produces commodities under capitalist conditions → the workers’ only commodity is their labor capacity which they are forced to sell → realization of labor capacity is under coerced conditions → labor becomes externalized from the worker

estrangement from species being

Humans relate to themselves as universal and therefore free being if creative process happens in externalization/objectification → capitalism no longer allows for self-realization through work-- your labor capacity is not an END in itself but a MEANS to an end for survival

social estrangement from other workers

As a worker, you understand your labor is taken by someone else (the exploiter) which you then project onto society as a whole making you feel more alienated

commodity dual state

physical/tangible vs. immaterial/mediating social relations

fetish/fetishism

negative connotation as primitive that articulated the colonialist mindset/attitude; enoting the magic-religious dimension of the commodity (whether in form of object, money, or capital); sarcastic/mocking tone

labor capacity

innate and defines us as a species being and allows us to recognize ourselves as active free agents in the objects we produce → allows us to gain self-consciousness

labor’s social character

labor capacity is exercised in collaboration but also evident in the act of exchange → human beings no longer work for themselves or each other under capitalism

analysis on fetishism of commodities

commodities perceived/treated as if they had innate qualities → abstracts from the social character of human labor through obscuring from social relations necessary to produce the good → surplus effect of you will have “more” than just the commodity (ie “cool factor”)