Means of production
Means of production are the resources and tools used to produce goods and services, including land, factories, machinery, and infrastructure.
Factors of production: The inputs used to produce goods and services, commonly classified as land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. This broader framework classifies productive resources alongside labor and entrepreneurial activity.
Production function: A mathematical relation describing the maximum output obtainable from specified inputs and technology. It models how productive resources and labor jointly determine possible output.
Private property: A system of rights allowing individuals or organizations to control and transfer assets. Private ownership assigns control of many productive assets to individuals or firms.
Class conflict: Conflict between social classes over economic interests, power, and control of resources. Disputes over productive property have been central to theories of class conflict.
Karl Marx: A nineteenth-century philosopher and political economist who co-authored The Communist Manifesto and wrote Capital. Marx made ownership of productive resources central to his analysis of class and history.
Capital goods: Durable goods used to produce other goods and services, such as machinery, tools, and industrial buildings. They are the physical equipment and structures within the means of production.
Capital accumulation: The increase in an economy's stock of productive assets through investment over time. Investment expands the stock of equipment and structures available for production.
Public ownership: Ownership of assets by a government or another public authority on behalf of the public. It contrasts with private control of factories, infrastructure, and other productive resources.
Wage labor: Work performed in exchange for wages under an employment relationship. Workers without productive assets often sell their labor to asset-owning employers.
Friedrich Engels: A German philosopher and political theorist who collaborated with Karl Marx and supported his work. Engels helped develop and popularize Marxist analysis of property and production.