Metabolic Drift

This chapter contains two parts. The first shows the continuity of the concept of metabolism with other key ideas in Marx’s work from his dissertation leading up to Capital. Again, a close reading of Marx’s dissertation can help offer a new rereading of key ideas in his mature work. This unique starting point provides the larger conceptual context for seeing how the concept of metabolism works in Marx’s theory of value. The second, and much larger, part shows precisely how the concept of a “metabolic drift” supports thinking on the twofold movement of appropriation and value creation.