In Marx's "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy", he explains that the foundations of society lie in material forces of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. He states that production, distribution, exchange, and consumption are not separate entities as some economists of his time suggest, but are different parts of one entity.

Regarding the relationship between production, consumption, exchange, and distribution, Marx first explains that production corresponds to history. He states that when speaking of production, it is always at a certain stage of history, "whenever we speak, therefore, of production, we always have in mind production at a certain stage of social development, or production by social individuals," (358, 2). He states that some economists believe production "is determined by universal natural laws, while distribution depends on social chance, exchange lies between the two as a formal social movement, and the final act of consumption which is considered...