Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German philosopher, political economist and revolutionary whose work provides essential frameworks for analysing capitalism. His critique of political economy exposed how surplus value extraction operates through the wage relation and how commodity fetishism mystifies social relations.
Marx’s historical materialism traces how modes of production shape social relations, consciousness and political possibilities. His analysis of capitalism’s internal contradictions and vision of communism as free association of producers continue to structure critical engagement with political economy.
Related concepts: commodity-fetishism, auto-exploitation, capitalist-unconscious