"A Mode of Production is a Way of Life"

Today in my Political and Social Thought lecture on Karl Marx, my professor stated that Marx believed "a mode of production is a way of life." For the purposes of the digital economy, this is a fascinating statement.

Though at first glance this would seem to be a technologically deterministic belief, Marx did not see a "mode of production" as just a technology, but rather the desired product, the process, the organization and the factors of production. So, while it might still be a form of determinism, it is much broader than the sentiments of, say, those who think the Internet is bound to make us more free.

More interestingly, though, are the ramifications for what Yochai Benkler calls "social production." In his book The Wealth of Networks he address how social production transforms society at large. Though I haven't made it through all of the tome, Marx's statement seems to be of a similar vein.

Marx saw the historical process of political economy as an evolution of subjugation: slave masters became feudal serfs who, in time, became the bourgeoisie which dominated the proletariat. The next iteration was supposedly free and equal individuals in a communal society.

Now, if a mode of production defines a society's way of life, the society of free and equal individuals requires a different form of production. Marx thought this anti-capitalist revolution could come about either peacefully or through violent insurrection. What would change is the means of production.

Now, my professor didn't claim to know the answer to this and nor do I, but I wonder: is the open source model of production as characterized by open source software and Wikipedia the revolution in production and therefore society that Marx foresaw?

In what I think of as open source production, and Benkler more aptly calls social production, all individuals can contribute. The means of production are increasingly free (as in speech) as opposed to what Marx saw in capitalism: ownership by the bourgeoisie of the factors of production.

If anyone can contribute to something of great value ($66 million for Firefox, anyone?), I think we may very well be at a more free and equal society. This again falls into the technological determinism of which I am wary, but I do think the design of systems can lend themselves to certain outcomes.

(More to come as I have time to delve into Marxism & Marshall McLuhan who, I think, fits into this puzzle.)