View Categories

Labor

Conscious and purposive social practical activity unique to mankind, the process of intercourse of matter, energy and information between man and nature regulated and controlled by man through his own actions by using his physical and mental faculties, the conditions of existence and mode of being of man, as well as the basis of the existence and development of society. Marx pointed out that so far as labor forms use-values, i.e., as useful labor, it is therefore a necessary condition, independent of all forms of society, for the existence of the human race; it is an eternal nature-imposed necessity which mediates the metabolism between man and nature, and thus human life…

Article Length: 7,008 characters

Own the print edition of The Great Dictionary of Marxism for unrestricted study and reference.

ORDER