Marx and 'The Working Day' - with Ana Deumert and Christian Chun

Karl Marx (1818–1883), the 19th century philosopher, is remembered as many things: a revolutionary, a political activist, a journalist, and the father figure of Marxism, which is a theoretical approach in the social sciences and the humanities alike. Marxism is also the political ideology defining what we now refer to as the Left in politics. Rather ignominiously, it also spawned some of the harshest dictatorships in human history under the label of Communism. So, Marx, who died rather young for a philosopher, managed in this relatively short lifespan to create a truly indelible mark on human culture. In today's episode, together with our guests, Ana Deumert (Cape Town University) and Christian Chun (University of Massachusetts Boston), we discuss chapter 10 ‘The Working Day’, from Volume I of his Capital, published in 1867. Among the questions we explore are the following: What does Marx' concept of 'surplus labour' still mean today? Have we grown out of practices such as child labour? How does 'overwork' feel for an academic? Join us on Critically Linked to find out what answers we have for you, and what the Capitalist 'vampire' means to Marx.