Capital means owning means of production and hiring wage workers, not mere wealth

Evidence

Capital is not, as its more recent usage suggests, mere wealth. Indeed, the accumulation of capital depends on two fundamental pillars: fi rst, small groups or individuals own the means of production; second, they use those means for the accumulation of wealth through the hiring of wage workers. Wage relations are the primary social relationship in any capitalist system, and they can be observed wherever a worker sells her capacity to work to her employer in return for a wage— a relation that is called capital. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 95

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines capital via ownership of the means of production plus wage labor, which is load-bearing for the book’s whole argument that austerity protects this ownership relation.
• XREF: connects to: Capital is produced means of production, not just money or weapons — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 247; Capital is a social relation conferring extractive power, not just machinery — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 792

Broader Connections

• Capital is a social relation conferring extractive power, not just machinery #expands (0.86) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 792
• Capital is produced means of production, not just money or weapons #corroborates (0.82) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 247