Productive Forces and the Economic Logic of the Feudal Mode of Production

Author: Wickham, Chris

Source: Historical Materialism, Volume 16, Number 2, 2008 , pp. 3-22(20)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

This article returns to the debate about the relative importance of the productive forces and the relations of production in the feudal mode of production. It argues, using western medieval evidence, that this relation is an empirical one and varies between modes, maybe also inside modes; and that, in the specific case of feudalism, not only were the relations of production the driving force, but developments in the productive forces actually depended upon them.

Keywords: FEUDAL; PRODUCTIVE FORCES; RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION; MIDDLE AGES

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156920608X296051

Affiliations: 1: Faculty of History, University of Oxford;, Email: chris.wickham@all-souls.ox.ac.uk

Publication date: 2008-06-01