Average (General) Rate of Profit, equal profit per equal capital regardless of the branch of capitalist production that capital is invested in. It is quantitatively equal to the ratio of the aggregate surplus value produced by the working class in all industries to the total social capital invested in all spheres and branches of capitalist production (see Rate of Profit). The average profit rate depends both on the special rates of profit and on the relative share of industries with high and low organic composition of capital. Since individual enterprises and industries develop unevenly under capitalism, there is no parity in their level of technical development, which denies uniformity in the organic composition of capital. In this situation, equal amounts of capital will yield unequal profits once goods have been sold at their cost. Where the organic composition of capital is lower, the same amount of capital will yield more profit than in industries with a higher organic composition. Accordingly, the initial profit rates will be different: industries with a lower organic composition of capital will enjoy a higher profit rate, while a higher organic composition will bring a lower rate. This situation cannot persist for long. In the quest for maximum profits, capitalists become involved in intense competition. In the process of inter-industry competition, as a consequence of the spontaneous flow of capital from the industries with a low rate of profit to those with a high rate, the rates of profit will level off at an average (general) rate of profit under normal social conditions of production. No normal functioning of capitalist production is conceivable without a levelling off of profits of this kind, as profit is the principal motivation and purpose of capitalist production. The levelling-off tendency results in goods being sold on the market at the prices of production. Since the profit of each capitalist eventually amounts to his share of the total surplus value produced by the working class, each capitalist is interested in intensifying the exploitation of not only his own work force, but of the working class as a whole. Therefore, the working class is exploited by the entire class of capitalists. To abolish capitalist exploitation, workers must unite and struggle against the entire capitalist class. The development of capitalist 19 production entails a rise in the organic composition of social capital and a slower turnover, which sets in motion the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. Increasing exploitation of the workers and the greater efficiency of modern equipment counters the lowering of the rate of profit, and intensifies contradictions between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The large monopolies under imperialism extract monopoly superprofit which greatly exceeds the average rate of profit.