Part 4, Chapter 12

Since capitalists face the limit imposed by the fact there are only so many hours in a day, they can only increase <a data-internal-link data-link-type="Index of Terms" href="https://www.supersummary.com/das-kapital/index-of-terms/#512399">surplus value</a> by lengthening workers’ shifts so much. This is what Marx calls “absolute surplus-value” (432). Faced with this limit, capitalists can instead increase surplus value by reducing wages or having as few workers as possible perform the labor, which Marx terms “relative surplus-value” (432). In Marx’s own words, “with the increase in the productivity of labour, the value of labour-power will fall, and the portion of the working day necessary for the reproduction of that value will be shortened” (432). Nor do capitalists care about the actual value of commodities: They care only about the surplus value that can be realized through selling them, so they also raise relative surplus value by lowering the standards of their products. Even with technological progress improving production, capitalists do not reduce the demands put on workers. The only real decrease in labor caused by technological change is when certain skilled workers lose their jobs to machines and are unable to find new jobs.

Part 4, Chapter 12 Summary: “The Concept of Relative Surplus-Value”

Part 4, Chapter 13

Part 4, Chapter 13 Summary: “Co-operation”

Part 4, Chapter 14

Part 4, Chapter 14, Section 1 Summary: “The Dual Origin of Manufacture”

Part 4, Chapter 14, Section 2 Summary: “The Specialized Worker and His Tools”

Part 4, Chapter 14, Section 3 Summary: “The Two Fundamental Forms of Manufacture – Heterogenous and Organic”

Part 4, Chapter 14, Section 4 Summary: “The Division of Labour in Manufacture, and the Division of Labour in Society”

Part 4, Chapter 14, Section 5 Summary: “The Capitalist Character of Manufacture”

Part 4, Chapter 15

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 1 Summary: “The Development of Machinery”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 2 Summary: “The Value Transferred by the Machinery to the Product”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 3 Summary: “The Most Immediate Effects of Machine Production on the Worker”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 4 Summary: “The Most Immediate Effects of Machine Production on the Worker”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 5 Summary: “The Struggle Between Worker and Machine”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 6 Summary: “The Compensation Theory, with Regard to the Workers Displaced by Machinery”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 7 Summary: “Repulsion and Attraction of Workers Through the Development of Machine Production, Crises in the Cotton Industry”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 8 Summary: “The Revolutionary Impact of Large-Scale Industry on Manufacture, Handicrafts and Domestic Industry”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 9 Summary: “The Health and Education Clause of the Factory Acts, the General Extension of Factory Legislation in England”

Part 4, Chapter 15, Section 10 Summary: “Large-Scale Industry and Agriculture”

Part 4 Part 4 Analysis

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Commodities and Money”, Part 1, Chapter 1: “Commodities”

Part 1 Das Kapital Part 1 Summary & Analysis

Part 2: “The Transformation of Money into Capital”

Part 2 Das Kapital Part 2  Summary & Analysis

Part 3: “The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value”, Part 3, Chapter 7: “The Labour Process and the Valorization Process” - Part 3, Chapter 10: “The Working Day”

Part 3 Das Kapital Part 3  Summary & Analysis

Part 4: “The Transformation of Money into Capital” - Part 4, Chapter 15: “Machinery and Large-Scale Industry”

Das Kapital Part 4 Summary & Analysis

Part 5: “The Production of Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value” - Part 5, Chapter 17: “Changes of Magnitude in the Price of Labour-Power and in Surplus-Value”

Part 5 Das Kapital Part 5 Summary & Analysis

Part 6: “Wages”

Part 6 Das Kapital Part 6 Summary & Analysis

Part 7: “The Process of Accumulation of Capital” - Part 7, Chapter 24: “The Transformation of Surplus-Value into Capital”

Das Kapital

Part 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: “The Transformation of Money into Capital” - Part 4, Chapter 15: “Machinery and Large-Scale Industry”

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