If a factory owner owns means of production and workers depend on wages, which theory does this explain?

Correct answer: Marx's theory of class relations and exploitation

The correct answer is A because the example describes the basic capitalist class relationship analysed by Karl Marx. The factory owner controls the means of production—such as buildings, machines, and capital—while workers do not own these resources and must sell their labour for wages. Marx argued that this unequal relationship could produce exploitation because the value created by workers is not returned to them in full as wages; the owner retains the surplus. Option B concerns the pace of political change, C concerns freedom of religion, and D concerns women’s voting rights. None explains ownership, wage dependence, and class conflict together.