We discussed modes of production -- hunter-gatherer- pastoral, agricultural, mercantile, industrial. The term "mode of production" always describes not only the main production activity, but the social relations of production. For example, the hunter-gatherer mode of production (where small family groups obtain their subsistence from naturally occurring fruits, grains, and wildlife, etc.) generally occurs in an egalitarian, non-hierarchical social structure in which land ownership is communal rather than individual. By contrast, the agricultural mode of production typically occurs in a hierarchical social structure in which land ownership is individual, but that tends to be concentrated in the control of a very few, while the producers of agricultural products tend to be non-landowners who pay rent in the form of a portion of the annual yield from the land the landowners allow them to cultivate. Which of these two modes of production is likely to yield more income?