Wage labor is capitalism’s primary pillar and historical precondition.

Evidence

But our economic system would be stillborn without the emergence of the first pillar of capitalism, wage labor—the novel social condition of the majority of the population. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 70

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

Related

• Capitalism is defined by wage labor, private means of production, and profit. (similarity 0.85)
• Capital means owning means of production and hiring wage workers, not mere wealth (similarity 0.81)
• Growth rests on workers selling labor for less than the value they create (similarity 0.80)
• Capitalist growth fundamentally depends on paying workers less than they produce. (similarity 0.80)
• Capitalism is a class-divided socioeconomic system of contingent human making. (similarity 0.80)
• All capitalist growth rests on a gap between wages and value created (similarity 0.79)
• The dominant economic story today depicts wages and profit as equivalent and fair. (similarity 0.79)
• All wage labor is exploited regardless of wage level (similarity 0.79)
• Capitalism requires disciplining workers into accepting private property and wage relations (similarity 0.78)