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Book Details
Abstract
This brilliantly concise book is a classic introduction to Marx’s key work, Capital. In print now for over a quarter of a century, and previously translated into many languages, the new edition has been fully revised and updated, making it an ideal modern introduction to one of the most important texts in political economy.
The authors cover all central aspects of Marx’s economics. They explain the structure of Marx’s analysis and the meaning of the key categories in Capital, showing the internal coherence of Marx’s approach. Marx’s method and terminology are explored in detail, with supporting examples. Short chapters enable the meaning and significance of Marx’s main concepts to be grasped rapidly, making it a practical text for all students of social science.
Discussing Capital’s relevance today, the authors consider Marx’s impact on economics, philosophy, history, politics and other social sciences. Keeping abstract theorising to a minimum, this readable introduction highlights the continuing relevance of Marx’s ideas in the light of the problems of contemporary capitalism.
This brilliantly concise book is a classic introduction to Marx’s key work, Capital. In print now for over a quarter of a century, and previously translated into many languages, the new edition has been fully revised and updated, making it an ideal modern introduction to one of the most important texts in political economy.
The authors cover all central aspects of Marx’s economics. They explain the structure of Marx’s analysis and the meaning of the key categories in Capital, showing the internal coherence of Marx’s approach. Marx’s method and terminology are explored in detail, with supporting examples. Short chapters enable the meaning and significance of Marx’s main concepts to be grasped rapidly, making it a practical text for all students of social science.
Discussing Capital’s relevance today, the authors consider Marx’s impact on economics, philosophy, history, politics and other social sciences. Keeping abstract theorising to a minimum, this readable introduction highlights the continuing relevance of Marx’s ideas in the light of the problems of contemporary capitalism.
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Cover | Cover | ||
Contents | v | ||
Acknowledgements | ix | ||
Preface to the Fifth Edition | xi | ||
1. History and Method | 1 | ||
Marx’s Philosophy | 1 | ||
Marx’s Method | 4 | ||
Marx’s Economics | 8 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 11 | ||
2. Commodity Production | 12 | ||
The Labour Theory of Value | 13 | ||
Labour and Labour Power | 19 | ||
The Fetishism of Commodities | 21 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 25 | ||
3. Capital and Exploitation | 27 | ||
Exchange | 27 | ||
Capital | 29 | ||
Surplus Value and Exploitation | 31 | ||
Absolute and Relative Surplus Value | 35 | ||
Machinery and Technical Change | 39 | ||
Productive and Unproductive Labour | 40 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 42 | ||
4. The Circuit of Industrial Capital | 44 | ||
The Money Circuit of Capital | 44 | ||
The Circuit as a Whole | 46 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 51 | ||
5. Economic Reproduction | 52 | ||
Simple Reproduction | 52 | ||
Expanded Reproduction | 54 | ||
Social Reproduction | 59 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 61 | ||
6. Accumulation of Capital | 63 | ||
Primitive Accumulation | 63 | ||
The Development of Capitalist Production | 67 | ||
Competition and Capital Accumulation | 70 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 74 | ||
7. Capitalism and Crisis | 76 | ||
Marx’s Theory of Accumulation and Crisis | 76 | ||
Possibilities of Crisis | 78 | ||
Accumulation, Crisis and the Development of the Proletariat | 82 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 86 | ||
8. The Compositions of Capital | 87 | ||
The Technical Composition of Capital | 87 | ||
The Organic and Value Compositions | 89 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 92 | ||
9. The Falling Rate of Profit | 93 | ||
Summary of the Argument | 93 | ||
The Law as Such and the Counteracting Tendencies | 95 | ||
The Internal Contradictions of the Law | 97 | ||
The Empirical Implications of the Law | 99 | ||
LTRPF and Crisis Theory | 101 | ||
A Response to Okishio | 104 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 107 | ||
10. The So-Called Transformation Problem | 108 | ||
From Values to Prices of Production | 109 | ||
Marx’s Transformation and Its Critics | 111 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 115 | ||
11. Merchant’s Capital | 116 | ||
Marx’s Category of Merchant’s Capital | 116 | ||
Modified Prices of Production | 118 | ||
Merchant’s Capital at a More Complex Level | 119 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 122 | ||
12. Banking Capital and the Theory of Interest | 123 | ||
Interest-Bearing Capital | 124 | ||
Money Capital and the Financial System | 125 | ||
Interest as an Economic Category | 128 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 132 | ||
13. Marx’s Theory of Agricultural Rent | 134 | ||
Differential Rent 1 | 135 | ||
Differential Rent 2 | 137 | ||
Absolute Rent | 140 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 145 | ||
14. Marxism and the Twenty-First Century | 146 | ||
Class | 147 | ||
The State and Globalisation | 150 | ||
Capital’s Environment | 153 | ||
Socialism | 154 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 158 | ||
15. Financialisation, Neoliberalism and the Crisis | 160 | ||
The Crisis of Financialisation | 161 | ||
Neoliberalism and Crisis | 163 | ||
Marxism Facing the Crisis | 165 | ||
Crisis and Class Struggle | 168 | ||
Issues and Further Reading | 171 | ||
References | 172 | ||
Index | 182 |