Marxist Materialism: Labor, Production, and Social Relations
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Marx's Materialist Philosophy: Labor and Social Structures
Marx adopted Hegel's dialectical method, which involves evolving through affirmation and negation to reach an improved state. For Marx, the only reality that evolves is matter. Humans, as beings of flesh and bone, work and develop themselves throughout history by transforming society and nature. Thus, humans are active and practical beings, with work as their primary activity. This is why the Marxist system is called materialism: work puts humans in relation to nature and with other humans, thereby building society. Human essence, therefore, is the set of social relations. These social relations determine human consciousness. However, in capitalist society, where the worker is employed, the opposite occurs, and there is alienation. The product, becoming the capital of others, appears to the worker as an alien being that they do not own or dominate. Consequently, the subject becomes a commodity. Marx called production the work of humans, with the production system being the basis of social organization. With this in mind, everything else can be explained by production systems. Production is the activity in which humans create goods to satisfy their needs. It consists of the work process, the result of which is the product of the relations of production that determine social class and constitute the economic structure of society. This is referred to as the infrastructure, upon which rises a superstructure: a set of ideas, beliefs, customs, and norms that shape social consciousness and can be legal-political and ideological. On the other hand, the use of definite relations of production has been shaped socially in a historical process of humanity.
Relationship Between Productive Forces and Superstructure
Marx stated that social structures were composed of two main elements: productive forces and the legal-political superstructure. The productive forces include the labor force, developed by the productive class, and the means of production. They constitute the engine of history, and thanks to technological advances and changes in the workforce, historical eras change. They are also related to social class and the working class that owns the means of production. The proletariat acts as a brake on social progress, while other classes are privileged and seek to perpetuate the existing situation. The economic infrastructure determines history itself, as it expresses the dialectical relationship between productive forces and the means of production. Societies differ in having different economic infrastructures. The superstructure is the legal and ideological-religious justification for a particular economic structure. In addition, it tends to perpetuate the structure. However, the relations of production change, causing the superstructure to change as well, necessitating new approaches to justification. A legal and political superstructure places the role of consciousness as an essential element of social relations in the eye of the hurricane. Furthermore, these relationships highlight its value as a theoretical concept, identifying the revolutionary changes that mark the transition from one stage to another.