Real subsumption makes social relations emerge from capital itself

Evidence

Marx differentiated formal subsumption and “real subsumption,” in which various social relations emerge from capital itself. The movement from formal to real, from incorporation to invention—this is how we should understand influencer culture. … Everything, rather than appearing as labor—the ultimate source of value—appears as capital, as something to exchange, as a material good to be owned, bought, and sold. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 104

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core distinction formal vs real subsumption, glossed as incorporation vs invention — the exact mechanism behind the influencer-as-firm.
• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s case-study analysis: the four infrastructures operate under real, not formal, subsumption. — connects to: Capitalization builds the thing being valued at the same time it appraises that thing — Kean Birch, Rethinking Value in the Bio-economy:…, 31; Abstracting value from life processes enables new commodified social relations; Financial wealth is fictitious yet real because shared fictions govern social reproduction — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 42 (+5 more)