Contents of the english publication Introduction1 1 Theoretical abstraction and concrete analysis1 2 Can there be a general theory of modes of production?5 3 The concept of mode of production9 One Primitive communism, politics and the state21 1 The concepts of necessary- and surplus-labour23 2 Politics and the state28 3 The primitive communist mode of production41 Two The ancient mode of production79 1 The concept of the ancient mode of production82 2 Social conflict in the ancient world91 3 Trade and commodity production in the ancient world98 Three Slavery109 1 The nature of slavery as an institution109 2 Is slavery a form of political domination?113 3 Is there a 'slave mode of production'?125 4 The concept of the slave mode of production and the analysis of slave systems148 Four The 'Asiatic' mode of production178 1 Questions of method178 2 The theory of rent183 3 Is there a mode of production which corresponds to the tax/rent couple?193 4 The 'stasis' of the Asiatic mode of production -- Asia has no history201 5 Wittfogel and 'hydraulic' society207 Five The feudal mode of production221 1 Feudal rent and the feudal mode of production221 2 The concept of feudal mode of production233 3 The relations of production and the forces of production242 4 Variant forms of the feudal mode of production255 Six The transition from feudalism to capitalism260 1 Balibar's conception of manufacture as a transitional mode of production262 2 Teleological causality and material causality in the analysis of transition271 3 The transition from feudalism to capitalism287 Conclusion308 Concepts and history308 The object of history309 Althusser's proposal for a 'science of history'313 Concepts and the concrete320 Notes324 Bibliography342 Index349
