Historical Materialism: Marx’s Scientific Theory of History
Historical materialism is the Marxist science of history. Marx’s materialism affirms man as the protagonist of history. Thus, Marxist materialism is the assertion of these two ideas:
- The relationships that man establishes with nature and with other men are material relations. In other words, men “tear” nature’s property. Then, men produce and exchange material goods to satisfy their material needs. Marx calls this the social production of life.
- These relationships give rise to the ideology and legal-political structure of the state. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but it is social being—society—that determines the consciousness of man.
Marxist materialism claims that the production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods that meet the basic needs of humans are the root of men having and developing this or that mentality, developing these or those laws, and this or that way of governing society.
Therefore, Marxist historical materialism is:
- An interpretation of history through matter: matter, through a dialectical process, is making history.
- That “stuff” is “the system of production of material goods” or “the economic relations of production” or “economy in the field of production relations of material goods.”
Historical Materialism means that what determines human history is not the spirit, as Hegel said, but the economic relations of production, as Marx says: the mode of production of material life conditions the process of social, political, spiritual life, etc.
Materialism is a scientific theory about the formation and development of society. The development of society can be explained from the economic perspective, from the production of material goods.
Idealism
Marx has been called the “philosopher of suspicion.” Suspicion is not simply doubt. We suspect that someone is lying; we suspect that there is something shameful that is hidden.
Suspicion was born first concerning the projection that man makes of human aspirations in religion. But the optimistic view of history in Hegel and the religious halo that remains in the modern state, suspected of a false balance between public and private in the State and its institutions.
Marx was faced with the historical social reality of his time and suspected philosophy itself. Philosophers try to hide or distort reality. This is the meaning of the term “ideology” introduced by Marx.
No doubt ideas come at some point in individual heads, but in certain circumstances, they lose track of their origin as if they had a life of their own and become dominant.
This “ideological consciousness” that is indispensable to the individual to settle in the social world in which he lives is, moreover, like the glue that gives cohesion to the social structure; it is the basic social cohesion.
Ideological consciousness is a “social product” because man is given only to think from the determining circumstances in which he lives. They are not ideas that determine social and political reality, but the actual conditions, often ignored, that determine the thought and conscience of an era.
Consciousness is also practical and, in turn, acts on society.
Superstructure and Infrastructure
Economic infrastructure is the set of relations of production. The economic system is the global economic process of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption.
Superstructure is the set of ideas, beliefs, institutions, and rules that shape social consciousness. These ideas are:
- Legal-political: institutions and norms that regulate society.
- Ideology: a set of ideas, beliefs, and customs that shape social consciousness, for example, religion and philosophy.
For Marx, the important thing is infrastructure. The superstructure is something added.
In the superstructure, the most powerful social classes believe in the ideology. They hide the reality of unequal economic situations, exploitation, etc.
The infrastructure is a situation of unequal economic exploitation.