Write a very short note on Wage Labour.

Wage labor is a central concept in Marxist theory, describing a specific relationship within the capitalist mode of production. In a capitalist system, individuals sell their labor power to capitalists, the owners of the means of production, in exchange for wages.

This arrangement forms the basis of the capitalist economic structure, where workers, or the proletariat, do not own the means of production but must offer their labor to capitalists in order to earn a living. The labor power of the working class is commodified, treated as a commodity that is bought and sold in the market.

Wage labor entails a fundamental contradiction, as the value of labor power (the wages paid to workers) is typically less than the value produced by the labor itself. The surplus value, representing the additional value created by workers beyond their wages, becomes the source of profit for the capitalist class.

Marx argued that wage labor is inherently exploitative, creating a class division between the bourgeoisie, who own and control the means of production, and the proletariat, who must sell their labor power to survive. This concept underscores the core dynamics of capitalist societies and serves as a foundation for understanding class struggle and the contradictions within capitalist economic systems.