The main objective of this article is to show the unity between the forms of political consciousness of the university student movement and its economic determinations. Positioned from the perspective of the critique of political economy, it is first explained how the transformations in the obtainment of relative surplus value by capital drive changes in the international division of labor and in the demand for productive attributes at world level. Then, we expound how this global transformation takes place in Chile as a producer of raw materials. Thirdly, we show how the changes in the forms of the social wage that seek to expand the supply of skilled workers and sustain the valorization of individual capitals in the education branch modify the political consciousness of the student movement, which take the «anti-neoliberal» form. Finally, we present the results of its political action, which crystallizes in the expansion of state expenditure on education and the formation of new left-wing parties.