ABSTRACT
In order to get an overall view of larger processes in history, it is important to study regional and local variation, and to make systematic comparison. Such in-depth studies and comparative analysis are not opposed to the search for large connections, but rather the necessary pre-requisite for such a pursuit. A re-reading of Marx may offer a productive approach, using the concept of mode of production (MOP) as an open and productive analytical strategy.
A renewed use of the concept of the MOP should take the idea of socio-economic process as the vital component, rather than structural relations. One of the important effects of this is that a given MOP may change considerably over time, which is not only evident when discussing capitalism, but also feudalism, for example. MOP is about relations of exploitation, but such relations always include mutual effects. The exploited are not only victims, they also have a certain agency, at times much greater than typically thought. Further, as Marx himself stressed, there is always more than one MOP in any given society, and this is one of the conditions allowing social and political dynamics. Further, the MOP is not society as such, but it is a vital and crucial part of society, and each MOP could be construed as a central axis of society in the given case. MOP can never be absolutely unique, but can always be found in several fairly distinct settings across time and space. Finally, we should not stay only with the MOPs mentioned by Marx, nor immediately accept any suggested MOP in Marx’s work, but rather develop new and productive suggestions, working on the MOP as an analytical strategy.
In order to understand different socio-economic developments, for example comparing South and North Italy, one of the important factors is the particular articulations between MOP in certain time periods, and the persistence of long periods of elements of a given MOP in Italy. Similarly, the particular developments in various regions of Latin America are crucial to look at more in detail. These particularities are also of utmost importance when looking at the ways external exploitation takes place (e.g. European colonialism in the Americas).
