Capital accumulation drives the profit rate down by reducing human labor per unit
Evidence
11 Karl Marx argued that, all other things being equal, capital accumulation causes the profit rate to fall in the long term because, as production becomes more capital intensive, each unit of output contains less human experiential labour within it. Consequently, the exchange value of each unit of output follows a path of secular decline. Inevitably, the profit rate must follow suit – downwards! — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 1031
Categorization
- DEFINE: Precise statement of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall — foundational mechanism the technofeudalism thesis builds on or departs from.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 1031
- XREF: connects to: Profit does not reward capital but results from labour’s dual nature — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 75; Global wage suppression was engineered to boost dollar profit rates — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 199; Capital accumulation lowers profit rates unless exploitation intensifies via labour rationalisation (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Capital accumulation lowers profit rates unless exploitation intensifies via labour rationalisation
#corroborates(0.95) - The falling rate of profit forces capitalists to intensify labor exploitation
#expands(0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2376 - AI reduces job quality by devaluing human labor.
#qualifies(0.75) — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 126