Productive forces are the elements that human beings transform through work to generate those goods they need to survive.
The productive forces are the elements that man transforms through work to generate the goods he needs for his subsistence.
Before moving forward with the definition, we are going to unravel the etymological origin of the words that make it up. In this sense, we have to say that both come from Latin: strength emanates from fortis, fortia , which can be translated as "strong" ; Productive , for its part, comes from productivus , which means that someone "can carry out something thanks to the capacity they have." That word, likewise, is made up of three different parts: the prefix pro- , which indicates "forward" ; the adjective ductus , which is synonymous with "guided" ; and the suffix "-tive" , which refers to a "passive or active relationship" .
The stamina and ability to move something or someone that resists or has weight ; the natural virtue of things; the application of physical or moral power; the action of forcing someone to do something; the most vigorous state of something; and the influence that can modify the state of rest or movement of a body are some of the definitions of the notion of force . Productive , meanwhile, is an adjective that refers to that or that which has the virtue of producing or that is useful and profitable . It should be noted that to produce is to engender, originate, procreate or manufacture something.
About productive forces
In addition to everything stated above, another series of important questions about productive forces must be noted:
- They make clear the relationship established between man and the objects that surround him as well as between him and the forces of nature. More precisely, they determine how humans dominate them.
- The fact that man creates machines or work instruments as well as learns to exploit natural resources to the maximum ends up translating into a notable development of him in particular and of society in general.
- The result of these aforementioned actions carried out by human beings is a change both in the production of any work and in the performance obtained in it.
- Within the scope of capitalism it must be established that, at a certain moment, a strong clash is established between the capitalist relations of production and the productive forces.
- The concept was coined by Marxism and is linked to the production of material life.
Work procedures and natural factors are part of the productive forces.
Factors of nature and work procedures
Productive forces include natural factors (such as water or electricity) but also labor procedures , from work in the field to workshops, small factories and large industrial complexes. Marxism associates human relations that occur through the development of productive forces with class division and private ownership of the means of production .
This means that the productive forces evolve according to the system of production relations and what historical materialism knows as superstructure (the ideologies that depend on the economic and material conditions of society ).