It seems to me that we live in a funny world, and not funny "ha ha", funny "strange". Between and among all of the types of strangeness out there I find nothing more strange then our not really understanding, or maybe more precisely I mean our not trying systematically make sense of, the economics of the societies in which we live. After all, isn't the production and reproduction of one's self in the society one of the core things that we all have in common? And isn't it true that our position, our class position, as we relate to the fundamental economic process of the society in which we live one that can be meaningfully discussed without serving to fragment ourselves along controversial and divisive lines as happens when we discuss race, gender and religion? So then, while we could talk about all sorts of strangeness - I am going too stay focused on economics because it is something I think we can discuss without being too divisive.
For a host of overdetermined reasons, we in the US, find ourselves living in a Capitalist society. By that I mean, the fundamental class process that defines the US economy is one that is organized around the capitalist fundamental class process. So, to combat some of that strangeness let's begin by defining capitalism so that we can start making sense of the economics of the society in which we in the US live in a systematic way.
Capitalism: You have a capitalism when the fundamental class process of a given social formation is arranged such that the appropriators and distributors of surplus value are not the creators of the surplus value. By the same token the creators of surplus value are characterized by selling their labor as a commodity for consumption by the appropriators and distributors. The sellers of their labor receive only the Necessary Value that allows them to continue to bring their labor to the market and the remainder, which is appropriated and distributed by others is the Surplus Value. The appropriators and distributors are the Capitalists and the producers are not.
Follow this link:
And use "search inside this book" link for the phrase "Surplus Labor" and read page 20-21 for more eloquence on the distinction. And for the record, I highly recommend that anyone interested in this Blog read Knowledge and Class by Wolff and Resnick.
A Capitalist, then, is anyone who appropriates and distributes the surplus value of others by consuming their labor as a commodity. If you work for a living and get a paycheck, you are likely not a Capitalist. There are very few Capitalists on this planet. More typically you are a receiver of redistributed surplus value. For example, capitalists tend to be "law and order" types and make sure that surplus value is redistributed to things like large and well trained police forces (making the police and for that matter a standing army a subsumed class to the capitalist fundamental class process in that social formation) so that the fabric that allows one person to appropriate and distribute the surplus others create is maintained. Social unrest to change this arrangement is put down, regularly, by the Capitalists through they way they distribute the Surplus Value.
Capitalists use their power as distributors of the Surplus Value in many other ways to continue to secure the conditions necessary to their own existence. A distribution of surplus they use, as another example, is funding the campaigns of politicians that favor laws that help them maintain their exclusive status as appropriators and distributors of the value others create with their labor. So while a politician (or you) may call themselves "Capitalists" what it typically means is they (or you) favor the current social formation, because they like you enjoy being in a subsumed class to the Capitalists because you perceive that you are materially benefiting from it.
So now that we have defined Capitalism, and who a capitalist is, I ask you:
Are you a Capitalist?
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