Understanding Production Relations and Modes: A Deep Dive

Production Relations

Production relations do not work in isolation. The relations of production depend on the agents of production, all individuals involved in a production process, and the means of production. There are two types of production relations: technical, which occur between the agent and the environment, and social, which exist between the agents. Technical relations refer to the control of the production agents over ways to work. There are three types of control:

• Individual production process: The agent controls the media and the process of work (e.g., craftsmanship).
• Simple cooperative production process: Agents perform the same task, individually control the media, and collectively control the labor process (e.g., original game).
• Complex cooperative production process: There is a separation between the agent who controls the working environment and the agent who controls the process. This separation leads to the technical division of labor. In this division, we classify the agents as direct and non-direct. Direct and non-direct employees perform supervisory functions.

Social Relations of Production

Social relations are links established from a specific point of view. From this perspective, there can be owners of the means of production and non-owners. According to Marx, there are two forms of social relations:

• Exploiter-exploited relationship: The media owners live by the work of direct agents or owners.
• Mutual cooperation relationship: No section of society lives by the exploitation of another because the means of production are owned collectively.

Modes of Production

All the technical and social functions tend to form a cohesive social unit. This is called the mode of production. This mode relates the forces of production and relations of production. It must be analyzed from a historical point of view because changing material productive forces alter the mode of production. History knows five types of production:

• Primitive community: Characterized by social property.
• Slavery: Relations of domination and subjugation exist. The owner has a stranglehold on productive forces.
• Feudalism: Similar to slavery, where property is exerted on the media and partly on the worker.
• Capitalism: Private property is exerted on the media, even if the worker is legally free. The labor force is the only property the worker possesses.
• Socialism: Property is collective, and relationships are based on reciprocal cooperation.

Historical Changes: The Class Struggle

Historical change occurs when the productive forces of society clash with the relations of production. For Marx, the current mode of production, capitalism, contains contradictions that would explode in a revolution. This revolution would change the mode of production from capitalist to communist. The class struggle is the motor of history.