Double edge nature to FREEDOM in capitalism
- Free worker is not enslaved....
- Also cut off from any way of reproducing their life except my selling their labor power
- Freedom to work...isn't much of a freedom at all
- Contradiction of the free laborer has persisted in PRESENT DAY
- Freedom has a limited meaning under capitalism...it means FREEDOM TO WORK...not freedom from hunger, homelessness
- You are free to sell your labor power
- Gig economy ads
- The gig economy is characterized by short-term work with no guarantee of future employment, that is, no job stability, no benefits
- It relies on a “just in time” economic model–that is, capitalists don’t want to pay for labor until they need it to make profit
- Uber, Lyft, Instacart–all these “on demand” apps are quintessential gig work companies
- The Black woman can be relied on by the White man same theme as the YES on Prop22 ads
Marx on capital
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Defines it in different ways:
NOT a substance
CANNOT be found in nature anywhere
Only becomes capital within certain social relations
- Class of property owners & workers
Pre-supposes wage labor and vice versa (parasidic relationship)
Capital REQUIRES a group of people who have nothing to sell except for their ability to work
Capital is capital when workers produce more value than they get back
SURPLUS VALUE
Commodity: labor power
