Capital gains is a term used to refer to the increase that a property has experienced in value due to external causes. An example would be the grandmother 's house suffered a capital gain as the neighborhood in which it is has become one of the largest point gastronomical the city.
Karl Marx between 1818 and 1883 developed this concept and exemplifies it in the following way, a worker performs an activity in a company for which he receives a salary but this activity generates money well above what he earns. This value that is not paid to the worker remains in the hands of the employer who is the person who actually sees the surplus value.
To understand this term a bit, it is worth pointing out that each product released on the market has a price that is related to the work it takes to produce it. According to Marxism, labor power is also considered a commodity.
The surplus value in capitalism is synonymous with exploitation of the workforce. For Marx, the boss can increase his profit in two ways, one is the absolute surplus value by extending the working day and the other the relative surplus value, which is by cutting the payment to the labor force.
Marx saw the surplus value in the following way, if a worker works his day in a time of four hours a day to satisfy his needs and those of his relatives but the employer puts him to work eight hours, then there will be four hours that are surplus value for the employer, who the one who takes over the money produced in those remaining hours and thus increases his capital.