Eric Wolf’s ‘Modes of Production’ chapter in Europe and the People Without History is a masterful reconceptualization of a key interpretive and tactical concept in the Marxian storehouse of ideas. The concepts of kin-ordered, tributary and capitalist mode of production capture important differences in the ways that human groups produce and distribute social surplus across space and time. Wolf’s formulation thus sends an important message about the specific kinds of social processes that are of analytical interest. It also supports the more activist goal of clarifying exactly how the present is different from the past so as to stimulate critical reflection and debate. This article considers how Wolf’s work has been engaged by archaeologists and how we might more fully redeem and extend his insights for an explanatory and emancipatory archaeology.
