Identify the odd one out among the following descriptions of rural so…

Identify the odd one out among the following descriptions of rural society in Karl Marx's concept of the Asiatic mode of production:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 2

The correct answer is Option (2) → Considerable social and economic differentiation

Option (1) Surplus appropriated by the state — Incorrect. In Marx's Asiatic mode of production, the state took the surplus before colonialism.

Option (2) Considerable social and economic differentiation — Correct. This is the odd one. The other three describe Marx's Asiatic mode of production. Considerable differentiation is what rural society really showed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, against that picture.

Option (3) A stagnant system — Incorrect. Marx's picture was seen as a stagnant system that did not change.

Option (4) Autonomous village communities — Incorrect. Marx pictured a society of many autonomous village communities under the imperial court.

NCERT (2026-27): “6.1 The question of landownership …
This idea was further developed as the concept of the Asiatic mode of production by Karl Marx in the nineteenth century. He argued that in India (and other Asian countries), before colonialism, surplus was appropriated by the state. This led to the emergence of a society that was composed of a large number of autonomous and (internally) egalitarian village communities. The imperial court presided over these village communities, respecting their autonomy as long as the flow of surplus was unimpeded. This was regarded as a stagnant system. However, as we will see (Chapter 8), this picture of rural society was far from true. In fact, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, rural society was characterised by considerable social and economic differentiation. …”