Surplus labour is a concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. It means labour performed in excess of the labour necessary to produce the means of livelihood of the worker ("necessary labour"). According to Marxian economics, surplus labour is usually "unpaid labour". Marxian economics regards surplus labour as the ultimate source of capitalist profits.
Read more about Surplus Labour: Origin of Surplus Labour, Surplus Labour and Exploitation, Surplus Labour in Capitalist Society, Surplus Labour and Historical Materialism, Surplus Labour and Unequal Exchange, Modern Criticism of Marx's Concept of Surplus Labour
Famous quotes containing the words surplus and/or labour:
“Dog. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world’s worship.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“When he painted a road, the roadmakers were there in his imagination. When he painted the turned earth of a ploughed field, the gesture of the blade turning the earth was included in his own act. Wherever he looked he saw the labour of existence; and this labour, recognized as such, was what constituted reality for him.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)