Workers gain access to the means of production only through working for wages. According to the classic Marxist paradigm, because of this relationship, capitalist societies are divided into two basic...

Workers gain access to the means of production only through working for wages. According to the classic Marxist paradigm, because of this relationship, capitalist societies are divided into two basic classes: owners of the means of production (capitalists) and workers (proletariat). While some discussions of capitalism describe workers as “free” in the sense that they can sell their labor independently of kinship or other constraints, they are not free in that their lack of capital forces them to work for wages.