Parasites, Pimps, and Capitalists: A Naturalistic Conception of Exploitation
Author(s)
Shelby, Tommie
Abstract
With the possible exception of “class,” there is probably no notion more central to Marxist theory than that of “exploitation.” Marxists are generally committed to the view that, not unlike slaves in a system of slavery and serfs under a feudal regime, wage-laborers under capitalism are economically exploited. The exploitative nature of capitalism is moreover thought to provide a reason, perhaps among others, for preferring a socialist form of social organization to a capitalist one. But despite the critical importance of the notion (and perhaps because of it), Marxists continue to disagree over the precise meaning and function of the concept of exploitation within Marxist theory. Here, the author sides with those who would defend a non-moralized conception of exploitation. It is not the author’s aim, however, to answer the question of whether Marxism, taken as a comprehensive (critical) social theory, should include a moral component of some kind. Indeed, the author contends that one can accept the conception of exploitation defended below while remaining agnostic about Marxian anti-moralism. His suggestion is that we understand the Marxist concept of exploitation as a naturalistic theoretical construct, that is, as a nonmoral concept within an empirically adequate social-scientific theory.
