ABSTRACT
So far we have been using the concept ‘mode of production’ to speak not only of the organization of production of disparate societies, but also of the social relations thereby engendered. The usual expression for this latter meaning is ‘relations of production’; however, rarely is the specific relationship made explicit, and worse, the exact specification of mode and relations (and indeed ‘means’) of production has never to my knowledge been given a formal model.1 Instead we all think we know what the concepts mean ‘near enough’, with the consequence that everyone uses the terms rather differently, and therefore intends something quite different. ‘I know what I mean’ is not an argument.
