Sociology 2166A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Marxism, For Marx, Extortion
13 Jan 2020
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Document Summary
Social theories provide a lens through which we can look at work di erently. They often reveal aspects of our social experiences that would not be obvious otherwise. Social theories: extended and more systematic explanations of the way the world works: an analytical tool to help is interpret and understand events and circumstances. Among other things, karl marx studied the nature of production in capitalist societies. He saw work as key to reproducing social inequality. Two key beliefs: labour theory of value, labour is the source of all value; nothing has value unless labour is expended on it. Entails the extortion of surplus value, from the workers, by the capitalists: for marx, labour is the source of all value. Workers producing good or services for sale create something of value, which is sold by their employers. Employers pro t because they pay workers only a fraction of the value they provide.
