mode of production

Calque of German Produktionsweise.

mode of production (plural modes of production)

1. (Marxism) A combination of productive forces such as labour power and means of production, and social and technical relations of production such as property, power, laws and regulations, etc.
   • 1887, Karl Marx, Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, transl.; Frederick [i.e., Friedrich] Engels, editor, Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production: Translated from the Third German Edition, volume I, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co., […], →OCLC, part I (Commodities and Money), page 1:

     The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, presents itself as “an immense accumulation of commodities,” its unit being a single commodity.

   • 2014 November 2, Paul Mason, “What Shakespeare taught me about Marxism”, in The Guardian‎:

     But once you understand what a “mode of production” is the meaning becomes clear. What you are watching is the collapse of feudalism and the emergence of early capitalism.