We explain what historical materialism is and what its central idea is. We also explain the different interpretations of this theory and its main characteristics.
Marx and Engels were the first to develop historical materialism.
What is historical materialism?
Historical materialism is a theory of the development of history and society based on the economic reality developed by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895).
This theory argues that the history of a society is sustained, as opposed to the superstructure, by the infrastructure provided by the economic relations and modes of production present in it. These material and economic conditions determine the development and evolution of society over time.
As a Marxist conceptual framework, Historical materialism explains revolutions and political and social changes through the contradiction between productive forces, relations of production and class struggle. In this sense, historical materialism opposes the Hegelian conception, which sees the history of humanity as determined by the spirit.
Historical materialism is characterized by:
- The use of dialectics in the materialist study of history and in the study of social reality in general and in the modes of production in particular.
- The claim of scientific character that makes it capable of identifying laws of social behavior with an identification capacity supposedly greater than other social sciences.
Central idea of historical materialism
Marx and Engels applied dialectical materialism to the study of society and history and created a scientific theory of general laws of social development. This theory is historical materialism. Marxism determined that men create their history not according to their own will, but according to conditions inherited from past generations.
The central thesis of historical materialism He maintains that it is not the consciousness of men that determines what they are, but rather their social being that determines consciousness.Material life is what determines the physiognomy of the social body, its regime, its institutions and its conceptions.
Much of historical materialism is explained through the paired concepts of structure (or base) and superstructure.Structure and superstructure are two concepts that mark the link that occurs at the origin of socioeconomic formations between the production relations of society and the result of that production.
- Structure. It is the economic-material basis of society, which is determined by the relations of production. It is opposed to the superstructure, which is a dialectical reflection of the base.
- Superstructure. It is the set of legal-political institutions (the State, religion, law, ideology, philosophy, morality and art) and the forms of consciousness (religious, philosophical and artistic) inherent to the modes of production, which are conditioned by these.
Features of method and dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is another of the classic concepts of Marxism. Unlike historical materialism, which studies the material conditions of society, dialectical materialism studies human society and nature as a whole.
Dialectical materialism is considered a science on which the worldview of the Marxist-Leninist party is built. Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) maintained that the party’s conception was materialist and dialectical because of the dialectical way of studying phenomena, interpreted from a naturalistic theory.
Dialectical materialism is characterized by:
- The extension of the use of dialectics to all reality.
- The scientific character that surpasses all sciences.
Interpretations of historical materialism
Historical materialism It was (and continues to be) the subject of various interpretations throughout the history of Marxism.The fact that Marx never expressed his ideas as “historical materialism” encouraged disparate and often contradictory interpretations.
The first theorist to use the term “historical materialism” was Friedrich Engels.By historical materialism, Engels understood Marx’s approach to the course of history that studied the cause of historical events important for the economic development of society, changes in the modes of production and exchange, the division of society into classes and the struggles of these classes among themselves.
Other authors, such as Jürgen Habermas (1929-.), consider historical materialism to be a theoretical explanation of social evolution. Louis Althusser (1918-1990), for his part, He maintains that historical materialism is the science of history that studies society and the laws of its development.To this end, historical materialism interprets the phenomena of social life in a scientific, dialectical-materialist manner.
References
- Marx, K., Engels, F., & Miguel, A. H. (1971). Manifesto of the Communist Party (No. 5041). Foreign Language Editions.
- Marx, C. (2023). Capital. Volume I. RUTH.
- Godelier, M. (1967). System, structure and contradiction in Marx’s Capital. Critical Thought, 11, 62-98.
- Harnecker, M. (2007). The elementary concepts of historical materialism. 21st century.
- Althusser, Louis, 1967, “Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism”, Critical Thought, No. 5, pp.3-25
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