Das Kapital sciences published before 1950. In "Das Kapital" (1867), Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labor, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value. The owner of the means of production is able to claim the right to this surplus value because he or she is legally protected by the ruling regime through property rights and the legally established distribution of shares which are by law only to be distributed to company owners and their board members. The historical section shows how these rights were acquired in the first place chiefly through
The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx Marx have suffered from lack of awareness of these works. In addition, he discusses "Das Kapital" and explores the influence of the philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Ludwig Feuerbach on Marx. "The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx" was published by Cambridge University Press in 1968. "The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx" received positive reviews from Gianfranco Poggi in the "British Journal of Sociology" and Herminio Martins in "The Sociological Review". The book was also reviewed by George L. Donaldson in the "International Review of Modern Sociology". Poggi described the book as a convincing attempt to