Marxist Anthropology: Historical Materialism and Alienation
Marx: Historical Materialism
The Marxist Anthropology
A human being is essentially, for Marx, a producer, a worker. Man transforms nature to the pair that humanizes it. The human being is essentially a generic being, universal, which denies nature through work to assert himself. It is a producer and a consumer. Man has needs that are met in their natural environment. Human beings are social beings. For Marx, man is not only an individual, but also a social animal. That is also why Marx was opposed to anarchism, which is individualistic. The human being is a historical being. Marx understands this as the general form of production that, throughout history, has shaped the economic structure of society. Historical materialism is the Marxist theory of world history that explains how various modes of production have succeeded one another.
The Economic Structure of Society
The economic structure is composed of:
- The forces of production. They are the origin or source of economic activity, constituting the dynamic element of the economy.
- The social relations of production. The productive forces give rise to a set of relationships between human beings. The relations of production constitute the current form of civil society.
Superstructure: On the economic base that constitutes the productive forces and relations of production, rises a legal and political edifice that corresponds to certain forms of social consciousness. Marx says that the legal superstructure, politics, philosophy, and religion have no life of their own. The economic infrastructure is the engine of history.
The Evolution of Modes of Production
History, according to Marx, properly begins with the division of labor and the resulting private ownership of the means of social production. This establishes a division of mankind: the exploiting class and the exploited class, but the division and subsequent struggle between the classes is the driving force of history. The modes of production are distinguished by Marx as follows:
- Asia: A nation dominates another.
- Old or slave: Slaves are the oppressed class who performs menial tasks for the benefit of free citizens (Greece and Rome).
- Feudal: The ruling class is the feudal lords, largely an agricultural economy.
- Capitalist or bourgeois: The level of exploitation is maximized.
The Capitalist Mode of Production
Capitalism, according to Marx, has an autonomous dynamic that intensifies until its destruction. The proletarian revolution will put an end to capitalism.
Marx and the Concept of Alienation
Marx identifies the concepts of objectification and alienation; objectification is necessary and beneficial, alienation is bad. Therefore, for Marx, alienation is a mismatch in the process of human self-realization.
Alienation and Capitalism
According to Marx, alienation stems from a mismatch in the production process, which begins with the division of labor and private ownership of the means of production. Alienation is the economic exploitation of workers, taking into account the economic condition of alienation which coincides with the division of society into classes. The main cause of alienation is certain economic conditions of society that focus on private ownership of the means of production. Work creates social relations between man and nature. Therefore, society has its origin in economic activity, and if this introduces private ownership of the means of production, class society is divided into exploiters and exploited. For Marx, reality is the human being as a synthesis of individual and human species. According to Marx, a constant of human history reaches its highest point with the resurgence of bourgeois capitalism after the industrial revolution of the early nineteenth century.
Alienation as the Product of Labor
This system is called capitalist ownership of the means of production. They are the source of wealth. In industrialized society, they are the drivers of the economy. Capital is the property of the capitalists. Pay is the price paid by the capitalist for the workforce. Profit is the benefit of selling the product on the market.
Alienation in Terms of Activity
The incorporation of machines and the specialization of labor create a “work” chain. The characteristic of being human is work, but the alienated man feels animalistic at work and finds their humanity outside of it.
Alienation in Human Relationships
The first consequence of economic alienation is the division of humans into antagonistic social classes: exploiters and exploited. According to Marx, the reconciliation of man with himself will come with the revolution to abolish the division into social classes. This is the opposition between the individual and the human species.
Alienation in Man’s Relationship with Nature
Man realizes his own being in the transformation of nature. Marx believed that alienation has been increasing throughout history to reach its summit in capitalist society.