We explain what historical materialism is and what its central idea is. Also, the different interpretations of this theory and its main characteristics.
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, in opposition to the superstructure, by the infrastructure given in the economic relations and in the 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, production relations 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 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 that of 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 that social development. This theory is historical materialism. Marxism determined that men create their history not according to their will, but according to conditions that they inherited from past generations.
The central thesis of historical materialism maintains that it is not the conscience of men that determines what they are, but rather it is their social being that determines conscience. 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.. The structure and the 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) typical of the modes of production, which They are conditioned by these.
Characteristics 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 world conception of the Marxist-Leninist party is built. Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) maintained that the conception of the party was materialist and dialectical due to 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 supersedes all sciences.
Interpretations of historical materialism
historical materialism was (and continues to be) the subject of various interpretations throughout the history of Marxism. The fact that Marx never expressed himself regarding 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 the approach given by Marx to the course of history that studied the cause of historical events important for the economic development of society, the changes in the modes of production and exchange, the division of society into classes and the struggles of those classes among themselves.
Other authors, such as Jürgen Habermas (1929-.), consider that historical materialism is a theoretical explanation of social evolution. Louis Althusser (1918-1990), for its part, maintains that historical materialism is the science of history that studies society and the laws of its development. To do this, historical materialism interprets the phenomena of social life in a scientific, dialectical-materialist way.
References
- Marx, K., Engels, F., & Miguel, A.H. (1971). Manifesto of the Communist Party (Brochure No. 5041). Editions in foreign languages.
- Marx, C. (2023). The Capital. Volume I. RUTH.
- Godelier, M. (1967). System, structure and contradiction in Marx's Capital. Critical Thinking, 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
