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In economics and sociology, the means of production (also called capital goods)[1] are physical non-human 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.[2][3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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).[6]


Marxian analysisEdit

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.[7]

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 classEdit

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.[8]


Related termsEdit




See alsoEdit


  1. ^ 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. . 
  3. ^ Oxford Dictionaries. "means of production". Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 7 December 2017. the facilities and resources for producing goods. 
  4. ^ 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. 
  7. ^ Mode of Production.
  8. ^ 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. 

