Glossary of key terms

Term	Definition
Abstract Labour	Labour considered as homogeneous expenditure of human labour-power; the substance of value
Accumulation	Reinvestment of surplus value into additional means of production and labour-power
Capital	Value in motion that self-expands; a social relation between classes
C-M-C	Simple commodity circulation: Commodity → Money → Commodity
Commodity Fetishism	The way social relations between people appear as relations between things
Constant Capital (c)	Capital invested in means of production; transfers value to product, doesn't create new value
Labour Process	Purposeful human activity transforming raw materials into use-values
Labour-Power	The capacity to labour; what the worker sells on the market
M-C-M'	Capital circulation: Money → Commodity → More Money (where M' = M + ΔM)
Necessary Labour	The portion of the working day required to reproduce the value of labour-power
Primitive Accumulation	Historical process separating workers from the means of production
Rate of Surplus Value (s')	s' = s/v — the ratio of surplus value to variable capital
Reproduction	The ongoing process of maintaining and replacing the workforce
Simple Reproduction	Capitalist consumes all surplus value; production restarts at the same scale
Socially Necessary Labour Time	The labour time required to produce a commodity under normal conditions and average skill
Surplus Labour	Labour performed beyond what is needed to reproduce labour-power
Surplus Value (s)	The unpaid labour crystallised; new value created by the worker and kept by the capitalist
Use-Value	The utility or usefulness of a commodity; its physical and sensory properties
Valorisation	The process by which capital creates new value (including surplus value)
Variable Capital (v)	Capital invested in labour-power; creates new value (including surplus value)

See Chapter 1 for full explanations.