Capitalism and Exploitation

In this post I will be examining the definition of exploitation and how that fits into capitalism.

---

The Reality of Exploitation

The definition of exploitation according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage - exploiting migrant farm workers

(Alternate, Oxford dictionary: The action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work.)
Now with that in mind let us dig deeper into the nature of capitalism.

The Birth of Capitalism

Capitalism was birthed in the Enclosure Movement. The Enclosure Movement included the seizure of communal land in Western Europe. The land was used for farming during the growing seasons and different activities during the rest of the year, which often consisted of grazing animals or other community activities. The land was carefully split between members of the community. Over time the land became more and more concentrated and that caused problems down the line. [1]

Concentration of Wealth

Over time the wealth became more and more concentrated within the new capitalist class. Now one in ten people must survive on less than $2 a day. Between 1988 and 2011 the average income of the lowest 10% increased by just $65 a month, while the average income of the top 1% increased by $11,800 per person. Over half of the billionaires in the world either are born with this money or slowly accumulate it through the ownership of companies, without doing much, if any, work. This concentration of wealth is a direct result of the basic structure of capitalism and the rich do not deserve this money. I prove that in this post.[2]

Wage Labor

Wage labor is the necessary for capitalism to function. Wage labor happens when a worker who needs resources finds a capitalist with resources. The capitalist knows that only labor adds value into something and he needs this for profit. When the capitalist provides a smaller amount of resources than the worker adds in value, the capitalist makes a profit. This process must go on for capitalism to function, and it does every single day. The worker always needs food and the capitalist always wants more resources.

Let us look back at the definition of exploitation:
“to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage”

Without going deeper we can say for certain it is for the capitalists advantage.

source

Equal Opportunity

Now we will look into the equal opportunity aspect of pure capitalism. It is often said that capitalism is “equal opportunity”, so it is not oppression.

That is wrong, no amount of neo-liberalism can make capitalism equal-opportunity. This is due to the concentration of wealth under capitalism. You need a large sum of wealth to become competitive, so it's always far easier to stay at the top than to rise to it. Once somebody is at the top, they will fight to keep that position, using their vastly higher wealth to their advantage. More wealth means more efficiency and more efficiency means a more competitive product without a product that is necessarily better. If the roles can be reversed and the winning product changes that is not equal oppertunity.

Equal opportunity is giving everybody an equal chance based on their skills, not one based on the position they were born into. Large companies often work together to destroy any laws or new startups trying to threaten them. One example is the telecommunication sector in the United States. Some may say this is not the "true nature" of capitalism, but that is also wrong. All outcomes that come out of capitalism are part of the capitalist system. You give power to the rich and they will fight for more of it, but not against each other. Their true enemy in that struggle is the workers.

The only way it could come close to equal opportunity is under market socialism, where the best product wins, instead of the largest business.

One must only look at Africa to see the “equal opportunity” played out. Many people work for dollars a day in iron mines to survive. They must spend everything they make to survive. This is called wage slavery and is very common in capitalism.

---

Want to see more politics and science? Subscribe and Upvote!

[1] [2]