A number of writers are currently trying, as part of an attempt to improve on the relatively impoverished state of architectural theory, to relate the study of building form to Marxism and aspects of semiology. It is suggested here that, although this recent work is provocative and stimulating, many of the more difficult aspects of the theory from which this work is borrowing remains relatively undeveloped. The purpose of this paper is to outline some of these main areas of neglect.