p Content is the sum-total of elements and processes constituting the given object or phenomenon. Form is the structure, the organisation of the content. It is not something external in relation to content, but is inherent in it.

p Elementary particles, and processes associated with their movement, make up the content of the atom of a chemical element. Their arrangement in the atom constitutes its form. Metabolism, irritability, contractibility and other processes, and also the organs, tissues and cells in which these processes take place make up the content of the living organism. The form of the living organism is represented by the way vital processes transpire in it and by the structure of its organs and tissues.

p Content and form are inherent in all social phenomena as well. Thus, the productive forces (in particular the instruments of production and the people who use them) represent the content of a historically determined mode of production. Relations of production (the relations of people in the process of production based on their relation to these instruments) constitute the form of a mode of production.

Dialectical materialism proceeds from the unity of content and form, their inseparability. Both form and content are inherent in the given object and therefore cannot be separated from one another. There is no content in general, but only formed content, i. e., content which has a definite form. Similarly there is no pure form without any content. Form always has content, it presupposes a definite content whose structure or organisation it represents.