means of production
Factories, tools, land
The means of production are the physical and non-human inputs used to create goods and services—factories, machinery, raw materials, land.
The term is central to Marxist economics, where who owns the means of production defines class structure: capitalists own them, workers operate them.
The workers seized the means of production.
The phrase appears in discussions of economic systems, labor relations, and political theory.
Industrial production facility
- machineryCollective mechanical equipment
- equipmentTools for a task
- toolsDevices for doing work
- plantBotanical organism
assembly line · automation · manufacturing · mill · foundry · forge · workshop · conveyor
Individually owned assets
- collectivizationForced communal ownership transfer
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
- privatizationState sells public assets
- shareholderEquity owner in corporation
proprietor · landlord · title · deed · monopoly · cooperative · commons · expropriation
Class-based revolutionary philosophy
- socialismCommunal economic control
- communismCollective ownership system
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- class struggleConflict between economic groups
dialectics · political economy · alienation · commodity fetishism · Das Kapital
Deploying capital for returns
- financeProvide money for
- fundingSupplying monetary resources
- equityImpartial treatment or ownership value
- wealthAbundance of valuable resources
assets · capital goods · accumulation · surplus value · profit · dividends · credit · liquidity
All available workers
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- workersPeople doing jobs
- laborersWorkers doing physical tasks
- wage earnersPaid workforce members
employees · blue collar · operatives · working class · artisans · craftsmen · apprentices · hands
Essential infrastructure services
- electric gridInterconnected electricity distribution network
- power generationProcess of creating electricity
- telecommunicationsRemote signal transmission technology
- transportationMoving people or goods
railroads · ports · highways · water supply · energy · pipelines · internet · fiber optics
factory
Industrial production facility
plant · assembly line · automation · manufacturing · mill · foundry · forge · workshop · conveyor · robotics
private property
Individually owned assets
- collectivizationForced communal ownership transfer
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
- privatizationState sells public assets
shareholder · proprietor · landlord · title · deed · monopoly · cooperative · commons · expropriation · bourgeoisie
Marxism
Class-based revolutionary philosophy
- socialismCommunal economic control
- communismCollective ownership system
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
class struggle · dialectics · political economy · alienation · commodity fetishism · Das Kapital
investment
Deploying capital for returns
- financeProvide money for
- fundingSupplying monetary resources
- equityImpartial treatment or ownership value
wealth · assets · capital goods · accumulation · surplus value · profit · dividends · credit · liquidity · securities
workforce
All available workers
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- workersPeople doing jobs
- laborersWorkers doing physical tasks
wage earners · employees · blue collar · operatives · working class · artisans · craftsmen · apprentices · hands · personnel
utilities
Essential infrastructure services
- electric gridInterconnected electricity distribution network
- power generationProcess of creating electricity
- telecommunicationsRemote signal transmission technology
transportation · railroads · ports · highways · water supply · energy · pipelines · internet · fiber optics · public works
- social classupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, social class
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- socialismMarxism, communism, proletariat, bourgeoisie, communal ownership
- American SocialismSocialist Party, democratic socialism, Bernie Sanders, Sanders, socialist
- class struggleclass conflict, class warfare, class divide, class struggle, class consciousness
- leftismMarxism, socialism, communism, leftist, socialist
means of productionfinished goods
Manufactured items ready for sale
consumer goods · end products · commodities · outputs · products
means of productionlabor power
Ability to labor
labor · workforce · working class · proletariat · human capital
means, produce, production, producer, produced, productive, producing, meantime, meanness