Means of production - wikipedia Means of production This article is about the economics term. For the compilation album by British musician Aim, see Means of Production. For other uses, see Means of production ( disambiguation ). Part of a series on Economics A supply and demand diagram, illustrating the effects of an increase in demand Index Outline History Branches Classification History of economics Schools of economics Mainstream economics Heterodox economics Economic methodology Economic theory Political economy Microeconomics Macroeconomics International economics Applied economics Mathematical economics Econometrics JEL classification codes Concepts Theory Techniques Economic systems Economic growth Market National accounting Experimental economics Computational economics Game theory Operations research By application Agricultural Behavioral Business Cultural Demographic Development Digitization Ecological Education Engineering Environmental Evolutionary Expeditionary Economic geography Financial Health Economic history Industrial organization Information Institutional Knowledge Labour Law Managerial Monetary Natural resource Organizational Personnel Economic planning Economic policy Public economics Public / Social choice Regional Rural Service Socioeconomics Economic sociology Economic statistics Urban Welfare Welfare economics Notable economists François Quesnay Adam Smith David Ricardo Thomas Robert Malthus John Stuart Mill Karl Marx Léon Walras Alfred Marshall John Maynard Keynes Arthur Cecil Pigou Paul Samuelson Lists Economists Publications ( journals ) Glossary Glossary of economics Business and economics portal In economics and sociology, the means of production ( also called capital goods ) are physical and non-financial inputs used in the production of economic value. These include raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools used in the production of goods and services. In the terminology of classical economics, the means of production are the `` factors of production '' minus financial and human capital. The social means of production are capital goods and assets that require organized collective labor effort, as opposed to individual effort, to operate on. The ownership and organization of the social means of production is a key factor in categorizing and defining different types of economic systems. The means of production includes two broad categories of objects : instruments of labor ( tools, factories, infrastructure, etc. ) and subjects of labor ( natural resources and raw materials ). People operate on the subjects of labor using the instruments of labor to create a product ; or stated another way, labor acting on the means of production creates a good. In an agrarian society the principal means of production is the soil and the shovel. In an industrial society the means of production become social means of production and include factories and mines. In a knowledge economy, computers and networks are means of production. In a broad sense, the `` means of production '' also includes the `` means of distribution '' such as stores, the internet and railroads ( Infrastructural capital ). Contents 1 Marxian analysis 1.1 Determinant of class 2 Related terms 3 See also 4 Footnotes 5 References Marxian analysis The analysis of the technological sophistication of the means of production and how they are owned is a central component in the Marxist theoretical framework of historical materialism and in Marxian economics. In Marx 's work and subsequent developments in Marxist theory, the process of socioeconomic evolution is based on the premise of technological improvements in the means of production. As the level of technology improves with respect to productive capabilities, existing forms of social relations become superfluous and unnecessary, creating contradictions between the level of technology in the means of production on the one hand and the organization of society and its economy on the other. These contradictions manifest themselves in the form of class conflicts, which develop to a point where the existing mode of production becomes unsustainable, either collapsing or being overthrown in a social revolution. The contradictions are resolved by the emergence of a new mode of production based on a different set of social relations including, most notably, different patterns of ownership for the means of production. Ownership of the means of production and control over the surplus product generated by their operation is the fundamental factor in delineating different modes of production. Capitalism is defined as private ownership and control over the means of production, where the surplus product becomes a source of unearned income for its owners. By contrast, socialism is defined as social ownership of the means of production so that the surplus product accrues to society at large. Determinant of class Marx 's theory of class defines classes in their relation to their ownership and control of the means of production. In a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie, or the capitalist class, is the class that owns the means of production and derives a passive income from their operation. In contrast, the proletariat, or working class, comprises the majority of the population that lacks access to the means of production and are therefore induced to sell their labor power for a wage or salary to gain access to necessities, goods and services. To the question of why classes exist in human societies in the first place, Karl Marx offered a historical and scientific explanation that it was the cultural practice of ownership of the means of production that gives rise to them. This explanation differs dramatically from other explanations based on `` differences in ability '' between individuals or on religious or political affiliations giving rise to castes. This explanation is consistent with the bulk of Marxist theory in which Politics and Religion are seen as mere outgrowths ( superstructures ) of the basic underlying economic reality of a people. Related terms Factors of production are defined by German economist Karl Marx in his book Das Kapital as labor, subjects of labor, and instruments of labor : the term is equivalent to means of production plus labor. The factors of production are often listed in economic writings derived from the classical school as `` land, labour and capital ''. Marx sometimes used the term `` productive forces '' equivalently with `` factors of production ; '' in Kapital, he uses `` factors of production '', in his famous Preface to the Critique of Political Economy, he uses `` productive forces '' ( that may depend on the translation ). Production relations ( German : Produktionsverhältnis ) are the relations humans enter into with each other in using the means of production to produce. Examples of such relations are employer / employee, buyer / seller, the technical division of labour in a factory, and property relations. Mode of production ( German : Produktionsweise ) means the dominant way in which production is organised in society. For instance, `` capitalism '' is the name for the capitalist mode of production in which the means of production are owned privately by a small class ( the bourgeoisie ) who profits off the labor of the working class ( the proletariat ). Communism is a mode of production in which the means of production are not owned by anyone, but shared in common, without class based exploitation. See also Wikiquote has quotations related to : Means of production Capital ( economics ) Clause IV Factors of production Information revolution Gross fixed capital formation Nationalization Productive forces Property Private property Privatization Relations of production Socialization ( economics ) Footnotes Jump up ^ Eatwell, John ; Milgate, Murray ; Newman, Peter ( April 19, 1990 ). Marxian Economics : The New Palgrave. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 76. ISBN 978 - 0393958607. The conception of capital within orthodox economics. Within orthodox economics, the term ' capital ' generally refers to the means of production... Jump up ^ James M. Henslin ( 2002 ). Essentials of Sociology. Taylor & Francis US. p. 159. Jump up ^ Oxford Dictionaries. `` means of production ''. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 7 December 2017. the facilities and resources for producing goods. Jump up ^ Karl Kautsky ( 1983 ). Selected Political Writings. 978 - 0333283844. p. 9. Here we encounter a further characteristic of the modern wage proletarian. He works not with individual but with social means of production, means of production so extensive that they can be operated only by a society of workers, not by the individual worker. Jump up ^ Michael Evans, Karl Marx, London, England, 1975. Part II, Chap. 2, sect. a ; p. 63. Jump up ^ Flower, B.O. The Arena, Volume 37. The Arena Pub. Co, originally from Princeton University. p. 9 Jump up ^ Mode of Production. Marxism.org Jump up ^ Ishiyama, Breuning, John, Marijke ( October 22, 2010 ). 21st Century Political Science : A Reference Handbook. SAGE Publications, Inc. For Marx, class was defined by an individual 's relationship to the means of production... Class is determined by the extent to which people own most, some, or little of the means of production, or by their relationship to the means of production. It is generally conflict over control or access to the means of production that drives history. Jump up ^ Frederick Engels : Socialism : Utopian and Scientific Chapter III Historical Materialism Marx2mao.com. p. 74 References Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. ( 1957 ). Political Economy : A Textbook. London : Lawrence and Wishart. Marxist phraseology and terminology Philosophy and politics ( Marxist ) Barracks communism Base and superstructure Bourgeoisie Bourgeois democracy Bourgeois nationalism Bourgeois socialism Capitalist mode of production Class struggle Commodification Dialectics Dictatorship of the proletariat Historical materialism Imperialism Liquidationism Lumpenproletariat Means of labor Metabolic rift Petite bourgeoisie Primitive accumulation of capital Proletarian internationalism Proletarian revolution Pure communism Revolutionary spontaneity Revolutionary wave Scientific socialism Socialist mode of production Super-imperialism Theoretician Two stage theory Wage slavery Workers ' council Workers ' control World revolution Economics and sociology ( Marxian ) Accumulation of capital Capital Capitalist mode of production Crisis of capitalism Commanding heights of the economy Commodity Commodity production Dominant ideology Exchange value Free association Law of value Materialism Means of production Mode of production Productive forces Production for use Relations of production Ruling class Simple commodity production Socialist mode of production Socially necessary labour time Socialization Social murder Subject of labor Surplus value Use value Value Worker cooperative Marxist -- Leninist Cadre Central Committee Democratic centralism Dual power Enemy of the people Foco General line of the party National liberation New class People 's democracy Politburo Political rehabilitation Popular front Real socialism Revisionism Revolutionary terror Socialist accumulation Socialism in one country Social fascism Social imperialism Soviet democracy United front Vanguardism Trotskyist Bureaucratic collectivism Deformed workers ' state Degenerated workers ' state New class Permanent revolution Social revolution Maoist Antagonistic contradiction Capitalist roader Four Olds Marxism -- Leninism -- Maoism Mass line New Democracy One Divides Into Two People 's war Revolutionary base area Struggle session Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Means_of_production&oldid=856081914 '' Categories : Marxist terminology Socialism Capitalism Marxian economics Production economics Labour economics Capital ( economics ) Factors of production Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Aragonés Беларуская Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Қазақша Kurdî Latina Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenčina Svenska தமிழ் Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 29 more Edit links This page was last edited on 22 August 2018, at 18 : 58 ( UTC ). 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Question: under communism who controls the means of production
Answer: not owned by anyone, but shared in common, without class based exploitation