The production of material goods is the basis of life in human society. Factors of production of material goods

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PRODUCT AND NATURE OF WORK

1. Production: tangible and intangible. Product of labor, its types

1. Production: tangible and intangible. The product of labor

In order to exist, a person must constantly satisfy

their needs, for which different goods are used. Benefits are created in

production process. They can be divided into goods and services. Products like

services are the result of labor, but, unlike services, they have

material form. Goods are divided into means of production

and personal consumption items. Personal consumption items are

benefits that are used by individuals to satisfy their

personal needs (food, clothing, housing, televisions,

refrigerators, etc.).

A product is a useful thing or service used for reproduction

factors of production; as a result of human activity

becomes economic and appears in the form of production products, and in

in the spiritual, intellectual sphere he acts as an intellectual

a product obtained as a result of performing work to provide services.

There are individual and social products.

An individual product is the result of the labor of an individual worker,

provided to an individual.

The social product is the result of the labor of the total worker

(all employees of the country), provided to citizens in equal conditions

(free education, healthcare, etc.).

A good is something that can satisfy the daily needs of life.

needs of people, to bring benefit, to give pleasure.

Services are types of activities in the process of which there is no

a new material product is created, but the quality changes

available product. For example, washing, repair, restoration, training,

treatment, etc.

Production can be tangible or intangible.

During material production, material values ​​are created

(industry, agriculture, construction, etc.) and turn out to be

material services (transport, trade, consumer services).

Intangible production is aimed at creating spiritual,

moral and other values ​​and provides similar services

(education, culture, etc.).

Services are provided by service enterprises. This is public

nutrition, healthcare, education, culture, household

services, transport, etc.

2. Resources and factors of production, the problem of scarcity.

To produce goods and provide services, it is necessary to have

certain resources. Resources are the capabilities that a

which society uses to satisfy its needs.

Resources are divided into exhaustible and inexhaustible,

reproducible and non-reproducible. Among the resources are

economic, considered from the point of view of limitation and rarity.

There are natural resources, i.e., given by nature (land and its subsoil,

forests, waters); labor (people with their skills and abilities in the working age

age); capital (means of production - means and objects of labor)

Scheme 1. Factors of production.

The resources involved in the production process take the form

factors of production. There are factors of production such as labor,

land, capital, entrepreneurial ability. In recent years

The labor process is a conscious, purposeful human activity,

aimed at transforming the substance of nature in order to satisfy one’s own

needs.

Capital as a factor of production is the means of production used

in the production process. They include objects and means of labor.

Entrepreneurial ability is a human ability

engage in business activities. Entrepreneurial

the ability includes the following characteristic features: taking risks;

the ability to combine factors of production; make decisions and

bear responsibility for them; always be in a creative search to obtain

entrepreneurial profit.

Society's needs are limitless, but resources are limited. Limitation

resources is a problem that all business entities face - and

poor, and rich, and individuals, and businesses, and countries.

3. Production possibilities curve.

The problem of choice is expressed in the production curve

capabilities (CPV) (Scheme 2).

Diagram 2. Production possibilities curve

The production possibilities curve is the set of points that

show alternative options for maximizing the production of two

goods with full use of all resources. The curve has a downward slope

type, because to increase the production of one good it is necessary to reduce

production of another product.

The curve is convex because resources are not completely interchangeable.

And with a further increase in the production of one product, it is necessary to refuse

everything from more of the other, i.e. the opportunity cost increases.

Opportunity cost - the most preferred option

using a limited resource that had to be abandoned.

Point D on the graph shows a desirable but unattainable

given resources, the option of producing two goods. Point C characterizes

option of incomplete use of resources when there is incomplete

capacity utilization, unemployment.

Over time, when the amount of resources used changes, the CPV

may move left or right. When the amount of resources in a country

increases (immigration, birth rate increases, new deposits are discovered

minerals), the CPV shifts to the right, showing an increase

production of goods. In case of reduction in the number of resources used

The CPV moves to the left, which indicates a reduction in production volumes.

Method of production of material goods

The concept " way of producing material goods" first introduced into social philosophy Marx and Engels. Each production method is based on a certain material and technical basis. The method of producing material goods is a certain type of human activity, a certain way of obtaining the means of life necessary to satisfy material and spiritual needs. The method of production of material goods is the dialectical unity of productive forces and production relations.

Productive forces are those forces (man, means and objects of labor) with the help of which society influences nature and changes it. Means of labor (machines, machine tools) are a thing or a set of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor (raw materials, auxiliary materials). The division and cooperation of social productive forces contributes to the development material production and society, improvement of tools, distribution of material goods, remuneration.

Production relations are relations regarding ownership of the means of production, exchange of activities, distribution and consumption. The materiality of production relations is expressed in the fact that they develop in the process of material production, exist independently of people’s consciousness, and are objective in nature.

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See what “Method of production of material goods” is in other dictionaries: In Marxism, there is a historically determined way of obtaining material wealth; unity of productive forces and production relations...

Big Encyclopedic Dictionary MODE OF PRODUCTION - PRODUCTION METHOD, historically determined. way of obtaining material wealth; unity produces. forces and production. relationships. The basis of societies. econ. formations. The replacement of one S. p. by another is a revolution. by. In the course of history, successively... ...

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In Marxism, a method of producing material goods based on private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of wage labor. In English: Capitalist mode of production See also: Modes of production Capitalism Financial... ... Financial Dictionary

Encyclopedia of Sociology

CAPITALIST METHOD OF PRODUCTION- English capitalist mode of production; German Produktionswiese, capitalistische. The method of production of material goods, based on private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of wage labor, which determines the development of the capitalist,... ... Dictionary in Sociology

Or politarism is the name of several methods of production, the common thing between them is that they are all based on a unique form of private property of a common class. General class private property always takes the form... ... Wikipedia

Noun, m., used. often Morphology: (no) what? way, why? way, (see) what? way, what? way, about what? about the method; pl. What? ways, (not) what? ways, why? ways, (see) what? ways, what? ways, about what? about methods 1. In a way... Dmitriev's Explanatory Dictionary

As already noted, production is the process of interaction between man and nature with the aim of creating material and spiritual benefits. This is pretty general concept activities are also included, for example, primitive man, who climbed a tree to provide himself with fruits. Production includes hunting, fishing, cattle breeding and any other activity characteristic of the first stage of development of human civilization. Manufacturing also includes the cultivation of land and the processing of raw materials into industrial products.
Production is divided into production that creates material goods and that creates services. In material production, material goods are created (food, clothing, etc.). Services can be material (apartment renovation, tailoring) and intangible (social, spiritual). There are other approaches to classifying production. For example, social production is divided into the spheres of material production, production of services, social production (lending, insurance, management activities, public organizations) and spiritual production (scientific and artistic, culture and education). The system of national accounts (a system of statistical accounting of the national product, adopted in international practice) distinguishes economic sectors by subject: manufacturing firms and enterprises that produce goods and provide services, or non-financial enterprises; financial institutions and organizations; state budgetary institutions providing services that are not objects of purchase and sale; private non-profit organizations, serving households; households; abroad.
Thus, in modern economic theory production means not only human activity, as a result of which material benefits appear, but also any activity in any field (civil servant, teacher, medical worker, banker, hairdresser, etc.). In addition, material goods obtained by processing certain types of raw materials must be delivered to the site and stored for some time in order to be gradually realized. The activities of a transport enterprise or commercial company (wholesale or retail) are also considered as production. This means that production involves not only the material transformation of goods, but also their movement in space and time. Ultimately, production refers to the creation of utility, that is, the production of goods and the provision of useful direct or indirect services to consumers.
In the most general and simplest natural-material approach, production is the process of converting resources into products or services that satisfy needs. In this sense, production, firstly, creates material conditions for human life, secondly, it participates in activities outside the creator of utility himself, thirdly, it acts as a sphere of relations between people, i.e. production relations, fourthly, it transforms spiritual world person, creates new needs. All areas of production are united by common goals, that is, they ensure the satisfaction of needs.
Therefore, production is organized activity people, aimed at meeting their needs. The latter is consumption.
It should be emphasized that consumption is the immediate goal only in non-market economic systems, while in a market economy the immediate goal of the company is to make a profit. In society, production interacts with distribution, exchange and consumption, and is carried out as a continuously renewable process, i.e. reproduction. Without the reproduction of resources and products, economic life is impossible. Therefore, in economic theory there is a reproduction approach, according to which the economy is the circulation of objects and means of labor, natural resources, consumer goods, population. At the center of reproduction is man and his needs. In this sense, we can say that if the purpose of production is production and profit, then the purpose of reproduction is man and his increasing needs. In addition to the production goal of the company, there are economic goals social production(reproduction), which are much broader. They are the goals of micro- and macroeconomics, the goals of the socio-economic system, the unity and interaction of productive forces and production relations.
In “Economics” the defining economic goals of society are: 1) the economic growth, providing a higher standard of living; 2) full employment (employment for everyone who is willing and able to work); 3) economic efficiency(maximum output at minimum costs); 4) stable price level; 5) economic freedom; 6) fair distribution of income; 7) economic security; 8) reasonable trade balance.
The production goals of a company and society are mediated by an intermediate link - the goals of industries and regions as management links. There is a kind of “tree of goals”, in which, from the roots to the top, the goals of the primary, main economic entities (citizens, enterprises, firms, industries) are located accordingly; goals of the regions and the entire system of society. They are interconnected and interdependent, modified by their socio-economic role in meeting a set of needs

Factors of production
When we characterized resources, we said that these are natural and social forces that can be involved in production. “Factors of production” is an economic category that denotes the resources actually involved in the production process (hence, “factors of production” is a narrower concept than “production resources”).
By moving from “resources” to “factors” we begin an analysis of what happens in production, because factors of production are producing resources.
Unlike resources, factors are always in interaction with each other and become so only within the framework of interaction. Therefore, production is always an interacting unity of these factors.
Although the number of resources is growing, in economic theory there are three main factors of production - “land”, “labor”, “capital”.
1. "Land": as a factor of production has a threefold meaning:
" V in a broad sense it means all natural resources used in the production process;
“in a number of industries (agricultural, mining, fishing) “land” is understood as an economic object, when it simultaneously acts as both a “subject of labor” and a “means of labor”;
“Finally, within the entire economy, “land” can act as a factor of production and as an object of property; in this case, its owner may not directly participate in the production process, he participates indirectly: by providing “his” land.
2. “Capital”: this is the name for material and financial resources in the system of production factors.
3. “Labor”: the labor potential of society, directly employed in the production process (sometimes they also use a term such as “economically active population,” which covers the able-bodied, those employed in production, contrasting them with the “economically passive population,” which covers the able-bodied, but not employed in production).
The “labor” factor includes entrepreneurial activity, in connection with which it would be appropriate to say a few words about it.
Entrepreneurship is a globally respected activity. It requires the ability to organize production, the ability to navigate market conditions and fearlessness of risk. Richard Cantillon (1680 - 1734), F. Canet's predecessor, said that an entrepreneur is a person who takes on strict spending obligations without having any guarantees of income.
In the Western economic tradition, respect for the entrepreneur is so great that his activity is often considered as an independent (“fourth”) factor of production (sometimes even as the main one). They believe that the entrepreneur bears the burden effective organization three factors of production into a single productive system, which he is interested in mastering latest technology, etc. However, the main function of an entrepreneur should perhaps be recognized as organizing profitable production: it is hardly possible to find a party more interested in this than the entrepreneur himself.
Now let's return to all three factors of production.
In economics, for three centuries there has been a discussion about the role of each factor in creating the value of a product.
"Classical" political economy recognized the priority of labor. The Marxist tradition interpreted value as the result of labor alone (in its abstract expression).
This discussion has not yet been completed, especially since the scientific and technological revolution, by removing man from the direct production process, makes it especially difficult to resolve the issue. However, in practice, economists rely on a concept called the “three factor theory.” The content of this theory can be stated in the following position: each factor of production is capable of bringing income to its owner: “capital” brings “interest”, “labor” - “salary”, and “land” - “rent”.
The profitability of all factors means that all owners of production factors act as independent and equal partners. Moreover, one can even talk about a kind of economic justice, because the income of each participant in production corresponds to the contribution of the factor belonging to him in the creation of total income.
When we said that production is the interaction of its three factors, then we gave technological characteristics production. But since each factor is represented by its owner, production necessarily acquires public character, becomes social process. Production turns into the result of production relations between the owners of production factors. And since both individuals and their groups can act as owners, and social institutions(for example, the state), then production is represented by the relationship between various economic entities and different forms property (individual, joint-stock, state).
As we have already said, not every owner of a factor of production must necessarily take a direct part in production. But this is the privilege of only the alienable factor of production - “land” and “capital”.
As for “work,” the ability to work cannot be transferred. Therefore, the one who represents only the factor “labor” must always take a direct part in production. Hence the objectivity of his status as a “hired employee,” although he may also have ownership of other factors of production (for example, purchase shares). But in new status he will transfer only when the income from these “non-labor” factors can meet his needs.
The measure of profitability of each factor in specific macro- and microeconomic conditions is one of central problems economic theory. All subsequent lectures are actually devoted to this problem. But now we are not dealing with economics (economics, strictly speaking, is the science of the profitability of factors of production), but with production itself. This means that we are interested in this moment not profitability, but the production process as a system of interaction between “labor”, “land” and “capital”.

A method of obtaining the means of subsistence (food, clothing, housing, tools of production, etc.) necessary for the existence of people, so that society can live and develop. The production method is the basis social order and determines the character of this system. Whatever the mode of production, such is society itself. Each new, higher method of production means a new, higher stage in the history of mankind.

Since the emergence of human society, a number of production methods have existed and replaced each other: (see), (see), (see) and (see). In modern historical era The outdated capitalist mode of production is being replaced by a new, socialist mode of production, which has already won in the USSR (see).

The production method has two sides. One side of the mode of production consists of (see) societies. They express a person’s attitude towards the objects and forces of nature used to create vital material goods. The other side of the method of production consists of (see), relations between people in the process of social material production.

The state of these relations provides an answer to the question of who owns the means of production - at the disposal of the whole society or at the disposal of individuals, groups, classes who use them to exploit other individuals, groups, classes. Marxism sharply criticized the idea that the mode of production is reduced to the productive forces alone, that the latter can supposedly exist without production relations. Such, for example, is the Bogdanov-Bukharip concept, which reduces the method of production to productive forces, to technology, and the laws of social development to the “organization” of productive forces.

In fact, in the method of production, its two sides are inextricably linked, one cannot exist without the other. Each historically determined mode of production is a unity of productive forces and production relations. But this unity is dialectical. Emerging on the basis of productive forces, production relations have a huge impact on the development of the productive forces themselves. They either inhibit their development or promote it. In the course of the development of the method of production, production relations naturally lag behind the productive forces, which are the most mobile element of production.

Because of this, at a certain stage of development of the method of production, a contradiction arises between its two sides. "Outdated production relations are beginning to hamper the further development of productive forces. The contradiction between the new level of productive forces and old production relations can be overcome only by replacing old production relations with new ones corresponding to the new productive forces. New production relations are the main and decisive force that determines the future powerful development of productive forces.

Contradiction, conflict between productive forces and production relations within single way production forms the deepest basis social revolutions in antagonistic formations. Under socialism, the contradiction between the two sides of the mode of production does not turn into opposition, does not reach the point of conflict. Socialist state and Communist Party, based on objective economic laws of development, have the opportunity to timely overcome the growing contradictions between old production relations and new productive forces by bringing production relations into line with the new nature and level of productive forces. (See also