What are the forces of production in Marx's historical materialism?

In Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism, the material forces of production refer to the physical and human resources required to carry out material production. These forces essentially encompass two primary components:12

• Labor: The human effort, both manual and mental, applied to the production process.12
• Means of production: The physical tools, equipment, raw materials, and infrastructure used to extract and process resources.12

Marx argued that these forces of production are a fundamental part of a society's economic structure, which serves as the real foundation upon which legal, political, and social superstructures are built. As knowledge and technology advance, the forces of production evolve and become more complex, often leading to contradictions with existing social relations of production—the arrangements that regulate how production and distribution occur. Marx viewed this ongoing development and the resulting tensions as the driving "motor of history," which eventually necessitates shifts in economic systems.123