Meaning of DOMESTIC MODE OF PRODUCTION:
Developed by Marshall Sahlins (1972), this is a theory of the economics of technologically simple societies. In this theory Sahlins focussed on the tendency for under production or to less than full utilisation of productive potential in these societies. Borrowing from the works of Russian economist Chayanov he observed the tendency in present household to limit production to the requirements of the household or the domestic group. Once these requirements are met there is no stimulus for further production. Sahlins’ model of domestic mode cf production incorporates not only the idea that the domestic groups produce in order to meet their needs but also the notion of the domestic groups’ independence, as it is the unit which controls the means of production and also the labour process. Sahlins’ description of the domestic mode of production details an ideal type of productive systom in which domestic groups are autonomous politico-economic units. The model has been criticised by those Economic Anthropologist who contend that production even in the most simple society is already controlled at a community level and that there are always important political, economic and social relationships linking domestic groups with one another and thereby making them dependent on each other.