Menu Expand
Marx's 'Capital'

Marx's 'Capital'

Ben Fine | Alfredo Saad-Filho

(2010)

Additional Information

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