Surplus value

Surplus value is the value workers produce beyond the value of their labor power. In Marxian theory, capitalists appropriate this excess as profit, interest, rent, and other forms of income.

Labor power: The human capacity to work, which workers sell to employers for a wage. Its value sets the wage-equivalent that workers reproduce before creating surplus.
Labor theory of value: A theory that explains the value of commodities through the labor socially necessary to produce them. Surplus value depends on Marx’s account of how labor creates commodity value.
Absolute surplus value: Surplus value increased by extending the working day or intensifying labor while necessary labor time remains unchanged. It is one direct strategy for increasing the surplus extracted from workers.
Marginalism: An economic approach that explains prices and value through marginal choices and the utility of additional units. It explains economic value through individual valuations rather than socially necessary labor.
Necessary labor time: The portion of the working day required to produce value equivalent to workers’ wages. Surplus production begins after workers complete this portion of the day.
Socially necessary labor time: The labor time required to produce a commodity under normal conditions and with average skill and intensity. It determines the value workers add in Marx’s framework.
Relative surplus value: Surplus value increased by reducing necessary labor time through productivity gains, without extending the working day. It shows how technological change can raise exploitation even when working hours stay constant.
Subjective theory of value: The view that a good’s economic value depends on the preferences and circumstances of those who value it. It conflicts with Marx’s labor-centered account of value.
Surplus labor: Labor performed beyond the amount needed to reproduce the value of a worker’s labor power. It is the working-time counterpart of surplus value.
Commodity: A product made for exchange rather than solely for its producer’s use. Capitalist production realizes surplus value through commodities sold on the market.

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