means of production

Definition of Means of Production

(noun) The instruments and materials used to produce goods and services.

Examples of Means of Production

• buildings
• commodities
• machinery
• tools

Means of Production Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: means of pro·duc·tion

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /minz ʌv prəˈdʌkʃən/
• British English – /miːnz ɒv prəˈdʌkʃən/

Usage Note

• The means of production and the relations to production taken together are called the mode of production.

Related Video

Additional Information

• Word origin of “means” and “production” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Heilbroner, Robert L. 1980. Marxism: For and Against. New York: Norton.
• Sowell, Thomas. 1985. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. New York: Morrow.

Related Terms

• bourgeoisie
• Durkheim, Emile
• capitalism
• communism
• economics
• institution
• mode of production
• proletariat
• relations to production
• Marx, Karl
• Weber, Max

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Works Consulted

Bilton, Tony, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones, David Skinner, Michelle Stanworth, and Andrew Webster. 1996. Introductory Sociology. 3rd ed. London: Macmillan.

Dillon, Michele. 2014. Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ferrante, Joan. 2011a. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferrante, Joan. 2011b. Sociology: A Global Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.

Thorpe, Christopher, Chris Yuill, Mitchell Hobbs, Sarah Tomley, and Marcus Weeks. 2015. The Sociology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. London: Dorling Kindersley.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Means of Production

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “means of production.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/means-of-production/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

means of production. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/means-of-production/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “means of production.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/means-of-production/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“means of production.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/means-of-production/>.