Mode of production

mode de production

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Summary

Dominique Pagani takes the notion of mode of production from Marx. He defines it as the conjunction of the productive forces and the relations of production, which gives an epoch its historical unity1. He distinguishes the productive forces, which are material, from the relations of production, which are legal and political: it is the relation between them that defines the mode of production2. A specific political world depends on this economic structure3. He traces the succession of modes of production, Asiatic, ancient or slave-based, feudal and bourgeois, and specifies that abolishing the last one would bring human prehistory to an end4. He characterizes the capitalist mode of production by the private appropriation of the major means of production and exchange: as long as this mode does not change, exploitation continues5. In his view, unemployment is not a consequence of technical progress; it results from this mode of production and from the choices made by employers6.

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Season 9.2 · 5 Feb 2021#9.14 How can sciences of history be real?

55:31The productive forces, material, are distinct from the relations of production, juridical and political; their relation defines the mode of production.
58:53Succession of modes of production: Asiatic, slave-holding, feudal, bourgeois; the suppression of the last would end human prehistory.

Talks · 16 Jan 2021The world before, the world after (part 2)

37:46Technical progress does not entail social devastation: it is the capitalist mode of production and the choices of management that produce unemployment.

Talks · 6 Oct 2018On Marx

50:54The conjunction of productive forces and relations of production gives a historical unity, an era, which Marx calls a mode of production.

Season 2 · 1 Aug 2017#2.8 Between crisis and war: philosophising?

1:10:30Conjunction of productive forces and relations of production: a political world determined by an economic structure (Asiatic, ancient, feudal, bourgeois).

Series · 6 Jul 2012Radio Galère: Michel Clouscard (1)

24:54The capitalist mode of production is the private appropriation of the great means of production and exchange; as long as it does not change, exploitation continues.