Marxist Theory: Key Concepts and Historical Analysis
Marxist Theory: Structure and Ideology
An economic structure consists of a structure, and a legal-political structure is ideological.
Social revolution: It means the destruction and transformation of certain relations of production.
In addition, three theses of materialist conception of history include:
- The factor of history is the ratio of productive forces and production relations. History is the actual process of material production of life.
- In history and in determining, there is a relationship between infrastructure and superstructure.
- The vector, as he addresses the story, is the disappearance of classes and the establishment of communism.
History and Dialectics
History advances in a dialectic: thesis, antithesis (negation of the thesis), and synthesis (negation of negation).
A mode of production (thesis), by its own contradictions between the forces of production and the relations of production, generates its opposition (antithesis) because there will be a time when the relations of production become an obstacle for the advancement of productive forces. This tension is a new way of production (synthesis), and the process begins again.
In the course of history, the contradiction manifests as a struggle between antagonistic social classes. Thus, the fight becomes the motor of history.
At each stage of history, the dominant social class uses the superstructure to maintain its domain. The ideology of this class extends to the whole society, which involves using a false consciousness.
This theory of history takes the pretense of a science.
The Marxist analysis discovers different modes of historical production: the communal form of ownership in primitive societies, the subjection of the slave to master in ancient societies, the servant in feudal ages, and finally, the mode of production in capitalist society based on private property of the means of production.
Alienation (Marx)
The concept of alienation had already been used by Hegel and Feuerbach:
- In Hegel, the encounter is dialectical: it is in itself a contradiction that drives him to go outside itself to become alienated. This alienation is necessary to produce the synthesis.
- In Feuerbach, the concept appears in the sense of religious alienation. This alienation disappears when a man recognizes God as his creation and so reconciles himself.
Marx believes that alienation occurs in a particular social class: the proletariat.
Marx criticized Feuerbach because he ignores history but believes in a human essence of each individual’s embodiment. To Marxism, the concrete man is a being that has to transform nature through productive activity.
The work represents the essence of the individual. Practice is what distinguishes man from animals and what sets their relationship with the world and with other human beings.
Man is the product of all social relations and the subject of the story. The goal of historical progress is to be the man who fully develops their creative capabilities and controls your own destiny. These capacities are manifested in the activity of production: man projects the product of their work.
Alienation occurs when the worker perceives the product of their work as something alien to himself and takes place, thus distancing and dehumanization. This alienation is not natural and is especially prevalent in capitalism.