Historical Materialism: Marxist Theory of Social Evolution
Historical Materialism: A Marxist Perspective
Historical Materialism: Marx and Engels not only exposed the materialistic dialectical character of development in nature but also applied it to society. With this action, they created the scientific theory of social evolution, i.e., historical materialism, which aims at the study of society and the laws governing its development. These laws are objective, that is, as independent of consciousness as are the laws of nature. They are also knowable, and in this sense, man employs them in his practical activity. For historical materialism, we must understand the scientific study of social reality and its historical evolution, according to the dialectical method from the standpoint of German Ideology. The dialectical and historical materialism: First of all, nature and history cannot be regarded as antithetical, as if they were two different things. The origins of man as a producer of his own life (through work) are social. Assume social cooperation by certain relations conditioned by production. Marx and Engels argue that the evolution of history is always due to material economic causes. They are not the ideas or intellectual elites, which make history. Are men as workers, whose needs and interests are very specific materials, without whose practical activity ideas are historically powerless. Based on Marx’s critique of Hegelian philosophy and Engels for critical analysis of bourgeois economy had reached the conclusion that the history of society can not be understood but as the history of man’s self-production by itself. The existential conditions, materials and practices, the working class under capitalism, which enable the development of class consciousness, in order precisely to the material processing and circulation of these conditions. The defining characteristic of historical materialism is the claim which are the economic foundations and modes of possession of material goods that are at the basis of all social transformation. The fundamental proposition of historical materialism is, therefore, the claim that social existence determines consciousness usually includes social. Historical materialism is included in what has been called theories or philosophies of suspicion: those who maintain that to understand the behavior of an individual or a social group is not adequate to meet the explanation that the person or group gives of himself.
Key Concepts of Historical Materialism
The term socio-economic formation encompasses all phenomena and social processes (economic, ideological, ethnic, family, etc.) established in a particular historical context of human economic relations of production. In their productive activity, men are associated with nature, transforming the objects to conform to their needs. Work objects are called all those natural resources (raw materials) in which human labor is applied, and means working to tools, machinery, equipment, transportation systems, which are used in the production process.
Workforce and Commodities
Workforce, i.e., the set of physical and mental faculties that exist in a human being and that acts to produce goods. When there is an object not for direct consumption, but for their exchange, then that object is called a commodity. The relations fetishist takes a holistic value. The sum of the objects of work, the media, and the force deployed in the same constitute the productive forces. The relations of production must be considered as an important part in material production.
Technical and Social Relationships
- Technical relationships: They refer to the link between man and nature. Means such relationships, following Marx and Engels, forms of control or mastery of the production staff have over the means of work and the work process in general.
- Social relations: Establishing contact between staff themselves.
The relations of production are not following the will of the people but of material conditions of production. The relations of production and all the productive forces are the modes of production,
Infrastructure and Superstructure
Infrastructure or economic structure, the material basis of society, which determines the social structure, development, and social change. It depends on the superstructure, consisting of:
- Legal and political structure: The set of devices, institutions, and rules to govern the operation of society as a whole.
- Ideological structure: Men do not only produce or produce, but also reflect on sobering experience and others.