Employers capture surplus from labour they cannot actually buy

Evidence

For herein lies capitalism’s secret: the uncommodifiable sweat, effort, inspiration, goodwill, care and tears of employees are what breathe exchange value into the commodities that employers then flog to eager customers – this is actually what makes the building or restaurant or school desirable. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 71

Categorization

• XREF: Core causal claim that presumably grounds the later rent-extraction argument against platforms. — connects to: Surplus value is the gap between labour infused and labour bought — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 795; Profit comes from surplus value workers generate — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 103; Ownership asymmetry forces non-owners to sell labour and yield surplus value — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 793 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Surplus value is the gap between labour infused and labour bought #corroborates (0.92) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 795
• Capital expands by not paying workers for part of their labor #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 104
• Surplus value arises from the gap between labour time given and reproduction cost #corroborates (0.88) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1364
• Profit comes from surplus value workers generate #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 103
• Labor is the commodity whose surplus value is expropriated and realized through market exchange #corroborates (0.85)
• Employers profit precisely because they cannot buy workers’ experience directly. #expands (0.82) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 73
• Ownership asymmetry forces non-owners to sell labour and yield surplus value #expands (0.80) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 793
• Wages compensate time but not enthusiasm workers contribute freely #qualifies (0.75) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 65
• Capitalist expansion requires wage workers separated from their own means of production #expands (0.72) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 611