Meanings
plural modes of production
- MarxismA 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.
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.
2014 November 2, Paul Mason, “What Shakespeare taught me about Marxism”, in The Guardian1 more example
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.
1887, Karl Marx, translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, edited by Frederick [i.e., Friedrich] Engels, 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 1Synonyms: MOP
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 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.
Origin
- GermanProduktionsweise
- Englishmode of production
Calque of German Produktionsweise.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 生產方式 /生产方式
- 生產方式 /生产方式 (shēngchǎn fāngshì)combination of productive forces and relations of production
Finnish tuotantotapa
- tuotantotapacombination of productive forces and relations of production
German Produktionsweise
- Produktionsweisecombination of productive forces and relations of production
Greek τρόπος παραγωγής
- τρόπος παραγωγής (trópos paragogís)combination of productive forces and relations of production
Hungarian termelési mód
- termelési módcombination of productive forces and relations of production
Portuguese modo de produção
- modo de produçãocombination of productive forces and relations of production
Punjabi ਉਤਪਾਦਨ ਦੇ ਢੰਗ
- ਉਤਪਾਦਨ ਦੇ ਢੰਗ (utapādan de ḍhaṅg)combination of productive forces and relations of production
Romanian mod de producție
- mod de producțiecombination of productive forces and relations of production
Russian спо́соб произво́дства
- спо́соб произво́дства (spósob proizvódstva)combination of productive forces and relations of production
Spanish modo de producción
- modo de produccióncombination of productive forces and relations of production
Swedish produktionssätt
- produktionssättcombination of productive forces and relations of production
Vietnamese phương thức sản xuất
- phương thức sản xuấtcombination of productive forces and relations of production
Cite this entry
mode of production. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mode%20of%20production
“mode of production.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mode%20of%20production. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mode of production,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mode%20of%20production.
Source: mode of production on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.