Production and Consumption: theory, methodology and Lithic

Abstract

The role of production in the economic organization of a given society hasbeen recognized by many theoretical frameworks. Materialist approachesassume that every act of human existence is linked to social processes ofproduction and, consequently, engendered in an economic dynamic. Forthat reason, the analytical category ?mode of production? has been considered,from the ?classical? writings of Marx and Engels onward, the cornerstoneof Marxist theory and, consequently, of the Marxist archaeology.the aim of this chapter is to propose a conceptual and methodologicalframework addressed to production-consumption interplay inorder to highlight the complex nature of the technological sphere. Fromour standpoint, this duality not only holds the clues to attaining a full understandingof the economic organization of a given society but is alsocrucial to exploring important issues of social life such as technologicalinnovations, identity, conflicts, symbolic agency, and social changes.