Economy and Class Structure in the East

Abstract

In all class societies, by definition, one or more classes carry out surplus labour, thereby creating surplus product which is appropriated by the dominant class or classes. However, what is distinctive about capitalism is that this process is organised in autonomous units, while overall order in the economy results from the mutual relations between these units rather than central external authority. Units can only survive in such an environment if accumulation is their major priority. Capitalist society requires that there be differentiated role complexes for control and coordinated labour, complexes that we have identified in Chapter Five as the global function of capital and the collective worker. (We shall further develop this point in Chapter Nine.) This differentiation ensures that each unit can respond to system pressures, whilst hindrance from labour is kept within fairly narrow confines. The classic exemplification of this model is the free market society, where entrepreneurs are compelled to direct their employees towards goals determined by market relations, creation and appropriation of surplus value and its conversion into capital.