Political economy examines economic systems within their social and political contexts. It analyses how production, distribution and consumption relate to power structures, class formations and ideological apparatuses.
Marx’s critique of political economy exposed how capitalism mystifies social relations through commodity fetishism and extracts surplus value through wage labour. His analysis reveals exploitation operating through apparently free exchange.
Contemporary political economy must engage how psychopolitics and emotional capitalism transform labour and value production. Neoliberalism exploits subjective capacities and affective investments alongside traditional material production.
Related: Marx, commodity-fetishism, capitalist-unconscious, psychopolitics