Synonyms
Transnational transfer of value; Unequal exchange, globalized production, the smiley curve
Marx’s critique of capitalist accumulation is based on an analysis of the commodity. Commodities are the cells in the capitalist system. In the commodity, we find the DNA of capitalism. It contains the contradictions that drive the system from a simple exchange of goods in a medieval town square to today’s globalized capitalism. In Das Kapital, Marx unfolds the logic of capitalism in increasing complexity. His original plan was to “examine the system of bourgeois economy in the following order: capital, landed property, wage-labour, the State, foreign trade, world market” (Marx 1859: 1). However, Marx only got halfway through his analysis. He never properly outlined theories of the state, the world market, international trade, or imperialism for that matter (although he did analyze colonialism and England’s exploitation of other nations).
My aim here is to explain how Marx’s concept of...
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Lauesen, T. (2019). Marxism, Value Theory, and Imperialism. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_147-1
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