Understanding Socio-Economic Formation and Historical Materialism
Classified in Social sciences
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English with a size of 1.84 KB
Understanding Socio-Economic Formation
The text explains that to achieve desired outcomes, individuals engage in work, establishing relationships of production that form the foundation of society. Improvements in these relationships correlate with increased productivity, influencing what Marx termed the legal and economic superstructure. This superstructure shapes consciousness, justifying reality from a social perspective.
Justification of Social Change
The text highlights the contradiction between productive forces and relations of production. When this contradiction arises, it triggers a shift in the societal foundation.
Productive forces and relations of production constitute the infrastructure, the real basis of society. This infrastructure evolves through the interaction of these forces.
Changes in the infrastructure impact the superstructure, which ultimately shapes society.
Socio-Economic Formation and Historical Materialism
The infrastructure and superstructure together form the socio-economic formation, a key concept in historical materialism. Historical materialism aims to study society and the laws governing its development.
Historical materialism involves the scientific study of social reality and its historical evolution from a materialist perspective.
A defining characteristic of historical materialism is the assertion that social existence determines social consciousness.
Another key feature is the role of economic factors and modes of possession of material goods as the basis for all social transformation.
Historical materialism is often categorized within theories and philosophies of suspicion. Understanding an individual requires more than just their self-explanation. It necessitates considering a reality beyond individual consciousness.