Production method
In Marxism, the mode of production of a society (system) is the way in which material goods are produced depending on the respective social development. The mode of production consists of the components of productive forces and production relations , which in the course of history enter into a dialectical relationship and form the fundamental law of the conformity of production relations with the character of the productive forces. Together they form the real, material basis of the socio-political and intellectual life of a social formation.
The mode of production is a central concept in the historical theory of Marxism, it is given a central position in the dynamic (and revolutionary) development of human societies. From the contradiction between the continuous development of the productive forces and the ever existing production relations, a new production relation and thus also a new mode of production arise in a dialectical process.
Modes of production
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels name four modes of production that European societies have so far gone through in a materialistic-dialectical process:
- Primitive society
- Slavery society
- Feudal society
- Civil society ( capitalism )
Other economic social formations are also described, such as the Asian mode of production , which is important for intra-Marxist debates.
See also
- Productive forces
- Relations of production
- Law of the conformity of the relations of production with the character of the productive forces
- means of production
- Division of labor
- Historical materialism
literature
- Dieter Nohlen , Rainer-Olaf Schultze (ed.), Lexicon of Political Science. Theories, methods, terms. Volume 2, 2005, page 796f.