Enjeux, justifications et portée de la thèse du caractère exploitatif du capitalisme

This article argues that the thesis of the exploitative character of capitalism still provides one of the main critiques that can be applied to capitalism as a social and economic logic. As a first step, this article analyzes different types of critiques of capitalism in order to measure the stakes of the critique of its exploitative character. As a second step, it discusses the justifications of the thesis of the exploitative character of capitalism, emphasizing that some of these justifications are not dependent on Marx’s theory of value, contrary to what is sometimes claimed. The third step of this article addresses the issue of the scope of the critique of the exploitative character of capitalism by examining the role that exploitation plays in gendered and racialized social relations of domination. The question at stake is then that of an intersectional approach to exploitation.