Capitalism can be associated with :
(A) Industrial production, commodification
(B) Surplus value, free market
(C) Weekly market, commodity exchange
(D) Money power, labour power
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
(1) (C), (A), (B) only
(2) (B), (C), (D) only
(3) (A), (B), (D) only
(4) (C), (D), (A) only
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (A), (B), (D) only
(A) Industrial production, commodification Correct. Marx understood capitalism as a system of commodity production, or production for the market, and the growth of capitalism has extended markets into spheres of life once untouched by them, which is commodification.
(B) Surplus value, free market Correct. The capitalist pays the workers less than the value of what they produce and so extracts surplus value from their labour. The free market, in which rational self-interest is said to lead to economic well-being, is the market economy in which capitalism works.
(C) Weekly market, commodity exchange Incorrect. The weekly market is a periodic market of agrarian or ‘peasant’ societies, where people from nearby villages sell their produce and meet kin. It is a very old institution, far older than capitalism, so it is not a mark of the capitalist system.
(D) Money power, labour power Correct. Under capitalism labour itself becomes a commodity: workers must sell their labour power in the market to earn a wage, while capitalists, with the money to own the means of production, buy it.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.2 Understanding Capitalism as a Social System … One of the founders of modern sociology, Karl Marx, was also a critic of modern capitalism. Marx understood capitalism as a system of commodity production, or production for the market, through the use of wage labour. As you have already learned, Marx wrote that all economic systems are also social systems. Each mode of production consists of particular relations of production, which in turn give rise to a specific class structure. He emphasised that the economy does not consist of things (goods circulating in the market), but is made up of relations between people who are connected to one another through the process of production. Under the capitalist mode of production, labour itself becomes a commodity, because workers must sell their labour power in the market to earn a wage. This gives rise to two basic classes – capitalists, who own the means of production (such as the factories), and workers, who sell their labour to the capitalists. The capitalist class is able to profit from this system by paying the workers less than the value of what they actually produce, and so extracting surplus value from their labour.…” “Adam Smith is known as the fountainhead of contemporary economic thought. Smith’s reputation rests on his five-book series ‘The Wealth of Nations’ which explained how rational self-interest in a free-market economy leads to economic well being.” “In most agrarian or ‘peasant’ societies around the world, periodic markets are a central feature of social and economic organisation. Weekly markets bring together people from surrounding villages, who come to sell their agricultural or other produce and to buy manufactured goods and other items that are not available in their villages.…” |