Mode of Reproduction
The Mode of Reproduction is the particular way a particular Regime of Accumulation chooses to reproduce the 1) Means of Production (i.e., the productive forces of society_ and 2) the existing Relations of Production (i.e., the workforce and their compliant servitude).
Caution. This article/definition is in draft form and at this time may constitute no more than rough notes, reminders for required content, or absolutely nothing at all. Content is subject to revision.
Regime of Accumulation
Components of the Regime > Mode of Accumulation, Mode of Production, Mode of Reproduction
Relations of the Regime > Relations of Accumulation
Syncretic Terms
Regime of Accumulation > Mode of Exploitation, Old World, The Machine, The Matrix, The Wheel
Related LP Terms
Non-LP Related Terms
Notes
The reproduction of the means of production is straightforward. Raw materials are continually extracted, machinery is maintained and where necessary replaced, finances or organized to ensure the ongoing ability to finance the reproduction.
Far more interesting and problematic is the reproduction of the relations of production. This reproduction is ensured by
- providing the continued reproduction of the workplace (i.e., turning out sufficient new babies to man positions within The Regime (see Binary Gender)
- "giving labour power the material means with which to reproduce itself: by wages."[1]
- reproduction of skills (through education)
- reproduction of submission " i.e. a reproduction of submission to the ruling ideology for the workers, and a reproduction of the ability to manipulate the ruling ideology correctly for the agents of exploitation and repression, so that they, too, will provide for the domination of the ruling class ‘in words"[2]
"The reproduction of labour power thus reveals as its sine qua non not only the reproduction of its ‘skills’ but also the reproduction of its subjection to the ruling ideology or of the ‘practice’ of that ideology, with the proviso that it is not enough to say ‘not only but also’, for it is clear that it is in the forms and under the forms of ideological subjection that provision is made for the reproduction of the skills of labour power."[3]
Quotes
As Marx said, every child knows that a social formation which did not reproduce the conditions of production at the same time as it produced would not last a year.[2] The ultimate condition of production is therefore the reproduction of the conditions of production. This may be ‘simple’ (reproducing exactly the previous conditions of production) or ‘on an extended scale’ (expanding them). Let us ignore this last distinction for the moment.[4]
"It follows that, in order to exist, every social formation must reproduce the conditions of its production at the same time as it produces, and in order to be able to produce. It must therefore reproduce:
1. the productive forces, 2. the existing relations of production."[5]
Footnotes
- ↑ Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 1971. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm.
- ↑ Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 1971. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm.
- ↑ Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 1971. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm.
- ↑ Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 1971. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm.
- ↑ Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 1971. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm.
