In the M-C-M cycle of capital accumulation, a capitalist has money M, buys commodities, which include means of production and labor power to produce other commodities, and then sells them for money M’, which is more than the initial amount of money they started with. This cycle shows how Money became capitalists and constantly recycled profits back into production to extract even more surplus from labor. The materials from Parenti and Jalee attached below emphasize that this cycle is the heart of the capitalist wealth creation process.

1. Understanding the Means of Production and Labor

When I think of the means of production, I consider them as tools, resources, and commodities for creating something, whether it is tangible or intangible. In other words, the instruments in the handicraft sense that would be used, for instance, in making a video, the camera, the microphone, and the editing software used during the video preparation, are the means of production. On the other hand, labor or work is an effort that I would invest to make the output of these tools. Hence, I apply effort when shooting, enhancing, or uploading the video. Without my work, the tools or means of production are just lying idle-they require me or any other worker to apply effort and add value through labor.

2. What is Value?

 As defined by Marxist theory, value is created through labor. According to (Philosophy Tube, 2016), value is considered when labor is added to an object, and the product’s value is enhanced. A piece of wood is simply a wooden log until a laborer processes it into a chair; it becomes precious. According to this theory, the value of an article is measured by the sum of the labor time spent on creating it under average circumstances, or the more time-consuming and skilled the labor used to produce the particular product, the more valuable the product. This is the basis of Marx’s Labor Theory of Value.

3. How are Labor and Value Related?

 Labor positively correlates with values, most of which are earned through labor. As the video depicts, when labor is not being input into raw material, it will be as it is. However, where physical effort is directed towards a change in substance (for example, transforming a log into a chair), it obtains some value due to the time and energy applied. Hence, from this perspective,value may be described as the effort used in producing a given good.

4. Difference Between Labor and Labor Power

From my point of view, the relation between labor and labor power is that labor implies the work done or an action made to create an object or offer a service. Labor power is defined as my ability or capability to work; it is what I bring forth to an employer whenever we bargain on my employment. The labor power I actively offer for sale in employment relationships differs from the labor I do upon being hired. The difference here is that labor power is the capacity to work, whereas labor is the action of working.

5. Surplus Value

Surplus value refers to the extra value or profits that I create through labor but which undergoes appropriation by the capitalist (Jalee, n.d.). For instance, if I was paid for 8 hours of work, what I made in value is more than what I paid for in the 8 hours, then the extra value belongs to the capitalist. This is the core of Marx’s view of capitalist society because it shows that workers are cheated – as they add value more than they are paid, the balance constitutes the capitalist.

1. Distinction Between Owners and Employees in Reading 4.3

Reading 4.3: According to the capitalist system, owners and employees are defined by Michael Parenti. Business employers or managers, for instance, business proprietors or shareholders, make decisions regarding controlling the means of production to earn more profits. They control major funds and the standards of production, and they engage in the control and manipulation of the labor market. For instance, the owner of a factory determines which products to manufacture, determines the wages for employees, and regulates the working environment(Parenti, 2024). On the other hand, employees, such as factory workers, lack ownership of any production segment. Such workers are wage workers; they sell their ability to work at an agreed wage and have little say in their working conditions or whether they will have a job next week. They engage in performing tasks but are ordered by the owners to do so to contribute to production without having an equal share of profit but wages only. 

2. Understanding Adam Smith’s Quote on Labor

According to Page 28, Adam Smith’s quote demonstrates that labor is the real source of value in any economy. He argues that every country’s wealth is directly linked to the working power of human beings. Smith states that labor is before capital or ownership in constructing economic activities. In labor, the articles of trade gain value and thus are the key elements that lead to economic empowerment (Smith, 1776). This view stresses that workers should be paid fairly because this conception understands labor as an indispensable source of wealth. In other words, Smith recommends an economic structure that pays attention to the efforts of the employees, who are the real providers of goods and services. 

3. Thoughts on Reading 4.4’s Argument that Class is Not an Identity

Reading 4.4 The authors believe that class should not be regarded as an identity and a social marker but as a structural social status. It also proposes a new understanding of class, which differs from race or gender and is associated with cultural or personal factors. The reading stresses that class is based on one’s position as per the means of production and economic control. It is an empirical fact related not to the person’s subjective self-identity or social role, which cannot be changed at will depending on one’s availability of material and resources. This view agrees with Marxist approaches to class, where the class is economic relations, assigning different roles to people as owners rather than workers or vice versa. 

4. Understanding the Argument in Reading 4.4 About “Close Form of Dependency”

Reading 4.4 explains that “class structures involving a close form of dependency” relate to the dependency of the different classes in a capitalist world. This form of dependency is seamless, where the working class depends on the capitalist class for basic needs in wages while the latter depends on the working class to make profits from produced goods and services. One of the examples of such dependence is the gig economy. Employees, for example, the drivers of ride-hailing platforms like Uber or delivery personnel of platforms like DoorDash, depend on the companies for their livelihood. At the same time, these companies require the same constant supply of such workers to enable them to continue providing services to sustain this business model. While both groups require one another, passive power and control always favor owners or capitalists. 

1. Ideology is a collection of ideas, beliefs, and values that people hold that affect their ways of interpreting reality and making choices. It is a concept that people or organizations use to make sense of social, political, and economic phenomena. Ideologies run very much on a discourse level and inform how an individual would approach government, economics, social justice, and freedom.An example of ideology is a belief in the free market economy, which requires limited state involvement in the business sphere. Skeptics of this ideology believe people should be allowed to satisfy their self-interests because doing so will yield the most economic gains (Parenti, 2011). This belief system is evident in policies that advocate for less regulation, taxation, and spending on public welfare since the free market can better address these problems.Ideology only dictates how people perceive the world around them. It offers a perspective from which societies’ structures are filtered, assessed, and often judged. Ideologies are often used to reduce the immense complexity of society into narratives that are more inclined to specific values (CrashCourse, 2015). For instance, if the person holds conservative values, they might perceive welfare programs as defying self-reliance, while a socialist might see them as applicable to decreasing injustice. Ideologies influence decision-making processes, policies, and discussions in all spheres of social life.
2. In the United States, conservative and liberal ideologies represent two major political stances. Conservative ideology presupposes that people should take personal responsibility for their choices, the government should be minimally involved in people’s and society’s affairs, and the free-market economy is the most effective. They also support national defense, anti-immigration sentiment, and property rights while vehemently opposing programs like universal healthcare for citizens, claiming it leads to bureaucracy (Parenti, 2011). On the other hand, liberals advocate for an enhanced participatory government in social responsibility and addressing the needs of citizens via health, learning, and welfare (CrashCourse, 2015). They highlight individual freedom, environmentalism, and equality; they consider health care a fundamental human right. Liberal values include equality and government regulation, while freedom and responsibility are conservative values.
3. Ideology, according to Althusser, is a structural complex that serves as an ideological state apparatus that controls the minds of a specific social class through ideas and representations. In his opinion, ideology is a tool that supports the dominance of the ruling class in a capitalist society by establishing norms that perpetuate it (PlasticPills, 2019). In Althusser’s view, ideology is implicit primarily, working through such agencies of repression as the immediate family, schools, and the mass media, which help to construct subjects who ‘know their place’ in the social order and how to behave accordingly. An example of Althusser’s ideology is the education system, which, according to him, is aimed at molding members of society to fit a particular mode of being and become productive units in a capitalist economy. They consider that, as schools instill respect for authority, compliance with rules, and concerning achievement within the established economic architecture, they act as ‘ideological state apparatuses.’ Thus, one can see that through such institutions, people imbibe the ideology necessary for a capitalist society, which occurs unconsciously.