Marx held that market equality masks a coercive inequality at work
Evidence
[The capitalist market] is in fact a very Eden of the innate rights of man. There alone rule freedom [and] equality… . On leaving this sphere of … exchange of commodities … we think we can perceive a change in the cast of characters. He, who before was the money owner, now strides in front as capitalist; the possessor of labor-power follows as his laborer. The one with an air of importance, smirking, intent on business; the other hesitant, like one who is bringing his own hide to market and has nothing to expect but— a hiding. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 573
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Marx saw market freedom and equality as real yet turning into their opposites — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 572; Capitalist-worker exchange is formally equal but substantively unequal — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1365; The rhetoric of creativity masks Marxian exploitation of living labor. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 452 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Formal market equality between buyer and seller masks exploitation inside the enterprise.
#corroborates(0.95) - Capitalist-worker exchange is formally equal but substantively unequal
#expands(0.90) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1365 - Marx saw market freedom and equality as real yet turning into their opposites
#corroborates(0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 572 - Formal political equality and market exchange produce economic domination when property is unequal
#expands(0.85) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 582 - The meritocratic promise of market society disguised its classist foundations.
#exemplifies(0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1571 - The rhetoric of creativity masks Marxian exploitation of living labor.
#exemplifies(0.72) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 452