Which term describes the lower classes that provide labor to production?

• A. Class systems
• B. Proletariat
• C. Caste
• D. Bourgeoisie

Answer: (B)

The working class that sells its labor to support production is described as the proletariat. In this view, the means of production—factories, land, machines—are owned by a smaller, capitalist class called the bourgeoisie. The proletariat does not own these resources and must work for wages to survive, producing the value that the owners then appropriate as profit. The term comes from Marxist theory and is used to identify those who provide labor power rather than capital. This is different from caste, which is an ascriptive social ranking tied to birth, and from class systems in general, which describe broad layers of society; and it’s distinct from the bourgeoisie, the owners themselves. So the term that fits the description is the proletariat.