FROM MODERNIZATION TO MODES OF PRODUCTION

FROM MODERNIZATION TO MODES OF PRODUCTION

FROM MODERNIZATION TO MODES OF PRODUCTION A Critique of the Sociologies of Development and Underdevelopment John G. Taylor

John G. Taylor 1979 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First edition 1979 Reprinted 1981, 1983 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Taylor, John G. From modernization to modes of production 1. Underdeveloped areas - Economic conditions 2. Economic development - Social aspects I. Title 301.5'1'091724 HC59.7 ISBN 978-0-333-24449-4 ISBN 978-1-349-16156-0 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16156-0

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction vii ix PART I MODERNISATION AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT I The Sociology of Development: Theoretical Inadequacies 3 2 The Sociology of Development-Unfounded Axioms: the Restricted and Uneven Development of Third World Economies 42 3 The Sociology of Underdevelopment: the Theories of Baran and Frank 71 PART II TOWARDS A HISTORICAL MATERIALIST THEORY OF THIRD WORLD FORMATIONS 4 Theoretical Prerequisites for an Analysis of Third World Formations: Theses 101 5 Social Formation and Mode of Production 105 6 Transitional Social Formations Structured by an Articulation of Modes of Production 139 7 The Genealogy of the Elements of the Capitalist Mode of Production within Non-capitalist Social Formations 143 v

vi Contents 8 Theorising the Non-capitalist Mode of Production: Problems and Perspectives 150 9 Conceptualising Non-capitalist Modes of Production: The Asiatic Mode 172 10 The Effects of Capitalist Penetration on Noncapitalist Modes of Production: Penetration under the Dominance of Merchants' Capital 187 11 The Effects of Penetration under the Dominance of Commodity Export 199 12 Imperialism and the Separation of Direct Producers from their Means of Production 206 13 The Emergence of an Articulation of Modes of Production and its Effects on the Structure of the Third World Formation 215 Notes 276 Bibliography 303 Index 315

Acknowledgements I would like to thank John Cowley, Stefan Feuchtwang, and Leslie Sklair for their helpful comments on the first draft of this text. I am also grateful to Elaine Capizzi, David Macey and Doreen Massey for their general theoretical comments and criticisms. My thanks, also, to Abilio Araujo, Antonio Cavarinho, Jose Ramos-Horta and other Fretilin comrades for their important theoretical points and political inspiration. I retain sole responsibility for the conclusions contained in the text. April 1978 J. G. T. vii

Introduction Sociological analysis of Third World societies is currently in a state of theoretical impasse. Partial critiques of the Sociology of Development, combined with an increasing awareness of its inadequacies when applied to particular case studies, have led to a virtual rejection of its structural-functionalist tenets. Yet, as a theory, it has not been subjected to a systematic critique. Part-accepted, part-rejected, it lingers on in the hope that, for certain areas of investigation, it is still relevant. Meanwhile, Underdevelopment theory has been unable to establish itself as a viable theoretical alternative. The vagueness of many of its central concepts has restricted its use. Yet, as with Development theory, critiques have not been directed at the basic concepts operative in its discourse, assessing to what extent they can provide a framework for analysing the structure and reproduction of Third World societies. Faced with the limitations of these two competing theories, research is increasingly adopting perspectives such as 'Dependency' which can only provide general guidelines for investigation, rather than a theorisation of the reality we are attempting to explain. Given this situation, the text of From Modernization to Modes of Production has a twofold objective: the first part is devoted to a systematic critique of the Sociologies of Development and Underdevelopment, posing questions to their basic notions, analysing to what extent-given the concepts operative in their respective discoursesthey can provide a basis for explaining the structure, reproduction and future possible development of Third World societies. Concluding that these concepts are inadequate for analysing crucial aspects of these societies, the second part of the text attempts to develop a new theoretical framework, utilising recent advances made in the theory of modes of production. Third World societies are analysed as particular combinations of different modes of production, which establish a basis for forms of class structure and political representation that are specific to these societies. The framework put forward attempts to provide a means for analysing the non-capitalist societies that ix

X Introduction preceded colonialism, the effects of different forms of capitalist penetration on them, and the consequent emergence of a form of capitalist development particular to these societies. Developing the basis for this framework from within the discourse of historical materialism proved to be extremely difficult. The further one investigated the theoretical possibilities, the more questions were raised. For example: where Marx expounds the theory of the elements of modes of production in Capital, he does so with only the slightest reference to non-capitalist modes of production. Conversely, in texts whose theoretical adequacy for founding a theory of non-capitalist modes is limited (the Grundrisse, the German Ideology), Marx constantly raises the issue of these modes, but in a descriptive manner. Furthermore, despite the limitations of these texts, most theorists analysing non-capitalist societies either take their conclusions as fully-formed concepts which can simply be 'applied' to reality, or operate readings of the concept of modes of production which restrict its relevance for our area of investigation. Consequently, I had to undertake a critique of these readings. To add to these difficulties, Marx never analyses the notion of a combination of modes of production, a concept that is crucial for analysing the development of Third World societies. Similarly, whilst historical materialist analyses have described, in general terms, the effects of different forms of capitalist penetration of non-capitalist societies, they have never adequately theorised the determinants of these forms, nor their specific effects on the reproduction of non-capitalist modes of production. These are just a few of the many absences in historical materialist work in this area. Consequently, rather than being able to put forward an elaborated theoretical framework, it became a question of establishing a basis for this framework. As a result, the argument often takes place at a general level of abstraction, and may at times appear somewhat disjointedexposition being interspersed with digressions into the validity of the concepts utilised. The text may also appear to be sparse on empirical examples. Where necessary, for purposes of clarification or conceptualisation, examples are introduced, or indicated in footnotes-as in the chapter on the Asiatic mode of production, or in the final chapter, where the conclusions are used to briefly analyse development strategies in various countries at different periods. The overall object, however, renders any general discussion of empirical raw material secondary. Given that the key aspect is an elaboration of a new theoretical framework, this could not have been otherwise. The ordering of the exposition is self-evident from the contents. The

Introduction critique of the Sociologies of Development and Underdevelopment in Part I is directed specifically at the basic notions of their respective discourses, analysing how the definitions of their object of investigation and the concepts they use in this necessarily limit their explanatory validity, no matter where they are applied. The analysis of the unfounded axioms on which the Sociology of Development is established enables the introduction of the notion of 'restricted and uneven development', as a characterisation of the form of capitalist development currently taking place in Third World countries. Later in the text, this form of development is analysed as resulting from the combination of modes of production and divisions of labour specific to the social formations of the Third World. The pre-requisites for developing a historical materialist framework are initially stated in the form of theses at the beginning of Part II. The object of study is defined as a social formation in transition from dominance by a non-capitalist to dominance by a capitalist mode of production, as being necessarily structured by an articulation of different modes of production and/or divisions of labour. Given this object, a number of issues are raised. What do we understand by the concept, social formation? If the social formations of the Third World are in a state of transition from one mode of production to another, what effects does this have on the social formation as a whole? How can these effects be analysed? How did a capitalist mode of production emerge to co-exist with a non-capitalist mode in a social formation dominated by the latter? How do we theorise the structure and reproduction of non-capitalist modes of production? What role did the different forms of capitalist penetration play in the historical emergence of the capitalist mode and its articulation with the non-capitalist mode of production? How do we analyse the social structure of Third World formations, given their determination in the last instance by an articulation of modes of production? Through attempting to answer these problems, a general framework is developed, utilising and extending existing concepts of historical materialism. The final chapter shows how this framework can be used as a basis for analysing economic phenomena, the class structure, and political representation. One point needs to be stressed. The analysis is concerned specifically with those social formations of the Third World which are undergoing a transition to dominance by a form of restricted and uneven capitalist development, whose reproduction is dependent upon an effective domination of imperialist penetration in various sectors of its economic xi

xii Introduction structure. The limits of our object of study are given by the continuing reproduction of the determinants of the transitional period-that is, by an articulation of capitalist with non-capitalist modes or divisions of labour. Once these determinants no longer structure the social formation, the transitional period can be regarded as being terminated. It is our contention that, within the countries of the Third World, with the exception of a small number of trading entrepot states (for whom the analysis would hardly be applicable anyway), no social formation has yet arrived at this point. However, within the Third World, there are, of course, other transitional formations-those in transition from dominance by an articulation of capitalist and non-capitalist modes to dominance by a socialist mode of production. These formations do not form part of our object in this text; rather, their analysis requires a very different theoretical framework from that which we have elaborated. This may be an obvious point, but it needs clarifying here in order to avoid any misconceptions that might initially confuse one's approach to the text. The aim of From Modernization to Modes of Production is to put forward a tentative general framework for the analysis of Third World formations, which will be further developed by utilising it in an analysis of one particular Third World society during the post-war period. This will be the object of a subsequent text. The extent to which this framework can be successfully developed ultimately to generate the possibility for concrete analyses of particular situations in specific Third World formations, remains to be seen. Whatever the outcome, the procedure adopted in the text, of attempting to elaborate a theoretical alternative, seemed to me to be one way out of the theoretical impasse in which our analyses are currently situated.