Social Ontology and the Origins of Mode of Production Theory

Abstract

Marxian social theory witnessed significant development and change from the early to the middle decades of the twentieth century. This paper argues that a distinctly new approach to Marxian social theory emerged during this period, based on the “mode of production” and “social formation” concepts. A distinctive feature of this new social theory is a set of core propositions that together provide a specific conception of society or social ontology. Taking inspiration from Althusser the essay argues that, during this period, Marxist social theory moved away from an image of society as relatively complex and open and adopted a conception of society analogous to Hegel's “expressive totality” wherein the different aspects of society simply express one privileged aspect or part (i.e., the technology of production). This essay traces the development of the mode of production and social formation approach from its roots in the contradictory positions taken by Friedrich Engels through its emergence in the works of such writers as Nikolai Bukharin, Liudvig Mad'iar, Maurice Dobb, V. Gordon Childe, Maurice Cornforth, Oskar Lange, and Otto Kuusinen. It also contrasts this with the very different conception of society evident in the work of Second International writers such as Georgy Plekhanov, Antonio Labriola, Karl Kautsky, and Eduard Bernstein. The objective is to identify the theoretical choices made by these writers that resulted in identifiable changes in Marxist social theory. This makes it possible to recognize these changes as distinct theoretical innovations, and thereby to question whether we should continue to make these same choices today.