O historical materialism it is a theory that is part of Marxist socialism.
This theoretical current studies history through the relationship between material accumulation and productive forces.
For historical materialists, society developed through the production of goods that satisfy the basic and superfluous needs of human beings.
Origin of Historical Materialism
Historical materialism was created by the German philosophers Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895).
During the Industrial Revolution there was growth of urban centers in European countries. The inequality between social classes became notorious and this had a strong impact on the social, political and spiritual life of that period.
Thus, several currents of thought emerged that sought to explain the origin of social differences. One of these theories was historical materialism.
Characteristics of Historical Materialism
Historical materialism sought to understand the relationship between work and the production of goods throughout history.
This materialist conception of history realized that the means of production are crucial to characterize societies.
For Marx and Engels, the social changes that occur in society are the result of this material conquest, which in turn determines the economic situation of individuals.
According to historical materialism, the production relations are fundamental to delineate the relations between the Social classes that make up society. For Marx, it is the capitalism it produces the class struggle between the bourgeoisie (the rulers) and the proletariat (the rulers).
In his work "The capital”, Karl Marx assesses capitalist society and the various social realities that are embedded in it and makes a critical analysis of the capitalist system.
society according to Marxism
To understand the concept, it is necessary to recall how Marx and Engels characterized society.
The bourgeois class is formed by the holders of the means of production. The proletarian class, on the other hand, receives a salary for its labor power.
Therefore, the proletariat has to sell its labor to the bourgeois. These, according to historical Marxism, will always want to keep power and make more profit. Therefore, they will exploit employees as much as possible, whether paying low wages or offering terrible working conditions.
Dissatisfied, the proletariat revolts and fights against the bourgeois. Only after many conflicts, the ruling class accepts to introduce changes that can improve the life of the working class.
Therefore, according to the studies of Marx and Friedrich Engels, what moves the history of a society is the struggle between social classes.
Criticism of Historical Materialism
Like all sociological and historical theory, historical materialism has been criticized by other thinkers. We will highlight just three of them.
The first one concerns the timeless validity to which this theory is intended. Can we understand the relations of production in Ancient Egypt with the same criteria used to understand an industrial society?
The second disapproval states that social classes are not homogeneous and also fight among themselves. The economic policy of a government does not always benefit a landowner and a large industrialist. There are labor laws that apply only to urban workers and not to peasants.
Finally, historical materialism only takes into account the economy and not the religious, ideological and military motivations for the development of society, as the sociologist will do. Max Weber, for example.
Dialectical Materialism
O materialism dialectical is another strand presented by Marx, where he uses dialectics to explain social changes.
From this bias, changes arise from the clash between social forces. They are a reflection of matter in its dialectical relationship with the psychological and social dimensions, which, in turn, constitute the productive forces and production relations.
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