Read the passage and answer the following question.
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. Marx's theory of capitalist economy and society provided the inspiration for numerous theories and debates about the nature of capitalism throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Capital like technology, machinery, electricity, can be categorised under which concept out of the following?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Means of production
Option (1) Relations of Production — Incorrect. Relations of production are the relations between people who are connected to one another through the process of production, such as the relation between the capitalist and the worker. Machines and electricity are things, not relations.
Option (2) Commodification — Incorrect. Commodification is a process: things that were earlier not traded in the market become commodities. Machinery is not being turned into a commodity here; it is being used to produce.
Option (3) Labour Power — Incorrect. Labour power is the worker’s capacity to work, which workers sell for a wage. Technology and machinery belong to the owner, not to the worker.
Option (4) Means of production — Correct. The means of production are the things used to produce goods, such as the factories, and with them the machinery, technology and power that run them. Capitalists own these means of production, while workers sell their labour to them.
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. Marx’s theory of capitalist economy and society provided the inspiration for numerous theories and debates about the nature of capitalism throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.” |