SOC 3126 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Economic And Philosophic Manuscripts Of 1844
12 Feb 2021
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SOC 3126 (Winter 2021): Capitalism & political economy
pt1, 1844 Manuscripts
• When society is in a state of decline, the worker suffers most
severely. But when society is in a state of progress, the ruin &
impoverishment of the worker is the product of his labour & of the
wealth produced by him.
• In poli eco labour occurs only in the form of activity as a source of
livelihood.
• Poli eco considers labour in the abstact as a thing; labour is a
commodity. If the price is high = commodity is in great demands, if
prices are low = commodity is in great supply: price of labour as a
commodity must fall lower & lower.
• Large workshops prefer women labour & children labour because it
costs less than men.
Audio
• The Manuscripts are the 1rst formulations of Marx of his
understanding of political economic life
• Proletariat in English is a collective word. A person is not a
proletariat, he’s a proletarian. He focuses on labour, salary, wage
• Concept of salary or wage will remain during the evolution of the
manuscripts
o Key component of the capitalist economy where it wasn’t
before.
