On the prospect of a new theoretical framework: Reading Marx and Foucault together to re-examine capitalist exploitation

This thesis is an attempt to reaffirm capitalist exploitation within a framework in which Marx and Foucault are used in collaboration. Exploitation is ascribed twofold characteristics: the conditio sine qua non for capitalism and a complex social function. To understand the role of exploitation within the tripartite nexus of social relations Marx's theory equips us with conceptual tools while Foucault's methodology opens up the path to study infinitesimal mechanisms of exploitation and their metamorphosis within the context of capitalist production. Marx maps out the conditions of capitalist societies by means of historical and dialectical materialism while Foucault points out the genealogical trees the roots of which needs to be grasped and the elements on whose branches should be rehabilitated by means of archaeology and genealogy. Therefore, capitalist class structure on the basis of exploitation is re-identified by departing from Marx's ideas while the three facets of contingent power relations---sovereignty, discipline, and governmentality---reissued on behalf of exploitation with an account to Foucault's work.