Factors or conditions that must be available for the production of material means to take place, i.e., the laborers and the means of production. The former is the human factor, and the latter is the material factor, including the instruments of labor and the objects of labor. In the production process, man, through the instruments of labor, effects an alteration in the object worked upon which was intended from the outset, and when the process is over and labor and the object of labor are combined, labor is materialized, and the object is processed to form the material means appropriate to men’s needs. The interaction of various factors in production reflects the relation of man to nature, and shows man’s capacity to control and change nature…
Article Length: 1,546 characters
Own the print edition of The Great Dictionary of Marxism for unrestricted study and reference.
