Necessary work
In Karl Marx's critique of political economy, the term necessary work denotes the part of the work that the wage worker needs in the production process in order to work out an equivalent for his wages. This is why “necessary work” is also referred to as “paid work”. But since the capitalist lets the wage worker continue to work because he has bought him for a full working day , he produces the surplus value in the remaining working hours through his unpaid surplus labor . The worker has no choice, because since he has no means of production , the only thing left for him to do is to sell his labor as a means of subsistence. This is the individual side of the "necessary work".
The necessary work is part of the working day. It is to be distinguished from the socially necessary working time , which does not refer to the working day, but to the product of the work process. It is the labor value of a commodity.
Every social formation has to do a certain amount of necessary work in order to reproduce. In his criticism of the Gotha program , Marx thematizes the social side of the necessary work under socialism. This includes, among other things, the creation of a supply of agricultural products in the event of bad harvests , educational institutions, social security, increasing the productive forces, etc.
See also
literature
- Marx, Das Kapital , 1867, MEW 23
- Marx, Critique of the Gothaer Program , 1875, MEW 19: 13-32