In political philosophy, the means of production are the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed may vary, they are widely agreed to include the classical factors of production (land, labor, and capital) as well as the general infrastructure and capital goods necessary to reproduce stable levels of productivity. The term means of production can also refer to the means of production and distribution, which additionally include the logistical distribution and delivery of products, generally through distributors; or the means of production, distribution, and exchange, which further include the exchange of distributed products, generally to consumers. The concept of the means of production is used by researchers in various fields of study—including politics, economics, and sociology—to discuss, broadly, the relationship between anything that can have productive use, its ownership, and the constituent social parts needed to produce it.
Industrial production
From the perspective of a firm, a firm uses its capital goods, which are also known as tangible assets as they are physical in nature. Unfinished goods are transformed into products and services in the production process. Even if capital goods are not traded on the market as consumer goods, they can be valued as long as capital goods are produced commodities, which are required for production. The total values of capital goods constitute the capital value. 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 include 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 are the soil and the shovel. In an industrial society, the means of production become social means of production and include factories and mines.
Knowledge production In a knowledge economy, learning, research, development, innovation, ideas and creativity are the means of knowledge production; media such as books, articles, and videos disseminated both physically and digitally over the Internet are means of knowledge distribution. In a broad sense, the means of production also include the means of distribution and infrastructural capital such as stores, the internet and railroads.
Depreciation The means of production of a firm may depreciate, which means there is a loss in the economic value of capital goods or tangible assets such as machinery or factory equipment due to wear and tear, and aging. This is known as the depreciation of capital goods.
Marxism and Marxist theory of class
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, in Marx's critique of political economy, and later 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 as the advancement of technology integrated within the means of production contradicts the established organization of society and its economy. The increasing efficiency of the means of production via the creation and adaptation of new technologies over time has a tendency to rearrange local and global market structures, leading to the disruption of existing profit pools, creating the possibility of massive economic impact. Disruptive technologies can lead to the devaluation of various forms of labor power, up to the point of making human labor power economically noncompetitive in certain applications, potentially widening income inequality. According to Marx, escalating tension between the upper and lower class is a major consequence of technology decreasing the value of labor force and the contradictory effect an evolving means of production has on established social and economic systems. Marx believed increasing inequality between the upper and lower classes acts as a major catalyst of class conflicts, which develop to a point where the existing mode of production inevitably becomes unsustainable, either collapsing or being overthrown in a social revolution, at which point the contradictory relationship between technological advancement and the value of labor force is 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. Under this system, profit-seeking individuals or organizations undertake a majority of economic activities. However, capitalism does not indicate all material means of production are privately owned as partial economies are publicly owned.
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