Final answer:
The mode of production concept describes how economies function in society, detailing how resources are produced, exchanged, and consumed based on different strategies influenced by modes of subsistence like industrialism.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of the mode of production explains how economy exists in society. Modes of subsistence such as gathering-hunting, pastoralism, plant cultivation, and industrialism/post-industrialism define various strategies for producing, exchanging, and consuming resources to meet fundamental needs of food, clothing, shelter, and health. These modes also establish societal organization, roles, and values.
In industrialism, the introduction of wage labor, machinery, and chemical processes for mass-production began in the 1700s in Britain. This allowed for an economic transition where markets, based on demand and supply, became the social mechanism for determining what is produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced. Modes of subsistence prioritize human labor applied to environmental resources, where intensive agriculture and industrialism are largely defined by market economies.