Personal Property Versus The Means of Production
In general, personal property is almost an extension of one's person and does include property from which one has the right to exclude others. Personal property is different to private property, however, in that it refers to things that are personal: objects with which one has a personal connection, making them important to one person while potentially worthless to the next. These objects can range from CDs to houses, depending on one's perspective, but definitions tend to include personal items such as clothing, books, food, or records.
From the socialist perspective, private property refers to capital or means of production that is owned by a business or few individuals and operated for their profit. Personal property refers to tangible items and possessions individuals own, as mentioned above. Socialism does not advocate the abolition of personal property, believing that it is an acceptable form of ownership of an item, unlike private property.
From the Marxist perspective, which is very similar to the socialist perspective, private property is a social relationship, not (as with personal property) a relationship between person and thing. It also describes personal property, as above, as those objects which are personal, or an extension of one's self. The Marxist perspective also does not advocate the abolition of personal property: it believes that it is only private property that should be done away with.
In capitalism there is little distinction between personal and private property.
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Famous quotes containing the words personal, property, means and/or production:
“The dialectic between change and continuity is a painful but deeply instructive one, in personal life as in the life of a people. To “see the light” too often has meant rejecting the treasures found in darkness.”
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“By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labor. By proletariat, the class of modern wage laborers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.”
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