Karl Marx argued that to understand the historical development of any society or social institution you must give primacy to the material basis of its social and economic relationships. What examples does he provide to illustrate this principle and how does he use it to explain the development of conflict between classes?
The Marxian “Theory of History,” as it has come to be called, is fairly elusive in the text, rarely being stated outright and with the terminology spread throughout all of his works. It is most apparent in the essay “The German Ideology,” a work written in opposition to the conceptions of the philosopher Feuerbach. In the essay, Marx makes the case for a theory of history driven by materialistic conditions, not by ideas as …show more content…
By tracing the social and class structure of each mode of production or “mode of life” (Marx 150), we can see the development of his class conflicts. His first stage is tribal, “corresponding to the undeveloped stage of production,” (Max 151) where in people hunt, gather, raise animals, or farm. There is little division of labor and what there is is “the natural division of labor existing in the family” (Marx 157). The family aspect is the key, with all property being owned communally by the family-tribe unit and the social structure “limited to an extension of the family” (Marx 151). By union of tribes through agreement or by conquest, states and cities are formed “accompanied by slavery” (Marx 151). As “citizens hold power over their labouring slaves only in their community,” property is still held to be communal, but there is “private property developing” through the beginnings of developments in the division of labor (Marx 151). Already, “antagonisms of town and country” exist with “class relations between citizens and slaves now completely developed” (Marx 151). Next, with the reduction of slaves and increase of the lower class, the feudal or estate property system is developed along with a further “antagonism to the …show more content…
“Men,” to Marx, “developing their material production and their material intercourse, alter, along with their real existence, their thinking and the products of their thinking” (Marx 155). The importance is not in the ideas, “life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life” (Marx 155). To Marx, historical materialism comes from a fundamental reality of human existence: that in order for human beings to survive and continue on from generation to generation, it is necessary for them to produce and reproduce the material requirements of life. This in and of itself changes human consciousness fundamentally and leads them to constantly revolutionize and develop their societies to best met this end. Using the ultimate example, all of history, Marx illustrates the importance of focusing on human relationships to truly understand history, thus explaining the development of class
The Marxian “Theory of History,” as it has come to be called, is fairly elusive in the text, rarely being stated outright and with the terminology spread throughout all of his works. It is most apparent in the essay “The German Ideology,” a work written in opposition to the conceptions of the philosopher Feuerbach. In the essay, Marx makes the case for a theory of history driven by materialistic conditions, not by ideas as …show more content…
By tracing the social and class structure of each mode of production or “mode of life” (Marx 150), we can see the development of his class conflicts. His first stage is tribal, “corresponding to the undeveloped stage of production,” (Max 151) where in people hunt, gather, raise animals, or farm. There is little division of labor and what there is is “the natural division of labor existing in the family” (Marx 157). The family aspect is the key, with all property being owned communally by the family-tribe unit and the social structure “limited to an extension of the family” (Marx 151). By union of tribes through agreement or by conquest, states and cities are formed “accompanied by slavery” (Marx 151). As “citizens hold power over their labouring slaves only in their community,” property is still held to be communal, but there is “private property developing” through the beginnings of developments in the division of labor (Marx 151). Already, “antagonisms of town and country” exist with “class relations between citizens and slaves now completely developed” (Marx 151). Next, with the reduction of slaves and increase of the lower class, the feudal or estate property system is developed along with a further “antagonism to the …show more content…
“Men,” to Marx, “developing their material production and their material intercourse, alter, along with their real existence, their thinking and the products of their thinking” (Marx 155). The importance is not in the ideas, “life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life” (Marx 155). To Marx, historical materialism comes from a fundamental reality of human existence: that in order for human beings to survive and continue on from generation to generation, it is necessary for them to produce and reproduce the material requirements of life. This in and of itself changes human consciousness fundamentally and leads them to constantly revolutionize and develop their societies to best met this end. Using the ultimate example, all of history, Marx illustrates the importance of focusing on human relationships to truly understand history, thus explaining the development of class