Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Help with Karl Marx's theory of "The Production of Surplus Value"

harry · 05-02-2003, 07:03 AM

Hi!

Im not an expert, but I read "Das Kapital" some time ago. As far as I remember "surplus value" is simply profit that is made by employers only because they own the means of production.

Lets say a shoemaker sells his shoes for 20 Euro each pair. The material cost 10 Euro which leaves 10 Euro for, i dont know, 2 hours of work or so.

Now imagine a modern shoe-factory where each employee produces 100 shoes in the same time. Of course they are not payd 100 times more than the shoemaker, but only maybe 10 Euros/h. Still the shoes are sold for lets say 15 Euro each pair.

So "surplus value" or "Mehrwert" is the additional profit that employers make due to enhanced productivity (i.e. automization).

I hope that helped and my English makes any sense to you.

05-02-2003, 07:03 AM	#8 (permalink)
harry Tilted	Hi! Im not an expert, but I read "Das Kapital" some time ago. As far as I remember "surplus value" is simply profit that is made by employers only because they own the means of production. Lets say a shoemaker sells his shoes for 20 Euro each pair. The material cost 10 Euro which leaves 10 Euro for, i dont know, 2 hours of work or so. Now imagine a modern shoe-factory where each employee produces 100 shoes in the same time. Of course they are not payd 100 times more than the shoemaker, but only maybe 10 Euros/h. Still the shoes are sold for lets say 15 Euro each pair. So "surplus value" or "Mehrwert" is the additional profit that employers make due to enhanced productivity (i.e. automization). I hope that helped and my English makes any sense to you. Last edited by harry; 05-02-2003 at 01:34 PM..