K. Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977, with some notes by R. Rojas.
“In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political, and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure.”
This paper interprets a passage from Karl Marx’s work on what two key concepts characterize a society. Attention is drawn to the definition of the basis as the necessary economic potential of community and his critical thought on the connection between the material and the conceptual. First of all, the work characterizes the basis and then the superstructure as additional criteria of social consciousness. The paper discusses the ontology of society: moreover, it concentrates on the benefits and evolution from existence to conscious thinking with a focus on the potential of the basic.
Marx moves gradually to a discussion of the basis and superstructure. First, he criticizes the denial of facts and the shift to a theoretical basis, and then he reveals his experience with Hegelian notions of the philosophy of law. In addition, Marx proposes to use his experience to demonstrate the imperfect relation between sociology and economics and reveal them through the basics and the superstructure. Although Marx presents his view of the structure of society as an outsider’s study, which is learned in the shadow of significant writings, his work provides a framework for thinking about the relationship between economics and consciousness.
The economic potential of society is an essential characteristic of any community on which all other structures can be superimposed. Marx defines the boundaries of consciousness and unconsciousness, arguing that social existence establishes the essence of man. How society uses to form political and legal supplementary functions is seen as the production of material goods. The matter is an ontological concept, which Marx uses to describe the contradiction between actually existing objects and social movements of thought.
The property-consciousness relationship distinguishes between the production of goods and the transition to shackles as a decisive factor in social consciousness. Economic basic resources are always capable of being transformed, making it necessary to change notions of any type’s superstructure subsequently. The historical change of the basis is caused and conditioned by a change like the productive forces of society. A revolution in the economic order of a given society causes a change, a revolution in the entire social superstructure.
The proposed passage brings out, perhaps, the main concepts of the structure of society on which Marx relies. Thus, the basis of humanity is a set of historically determined production relations characterized by transforming economic interactions. The superstructure is a set of ideological associations, attitudes, and institutions. Marx reasonably defines the state and law, morality, religion, philosophy, art, the political and legal form of consciousness, and related institutions. People who become part of a sensible social consciousness are obliged to enter into relations of production and economic augmentation of resources. The totality of them constitutes society’s financial structure, the factual basis on which the legal and political superstructure arises, and to which certain forms of social consciousness correspond.
The present interpretation differs because it relies on a personal perception of the metaphor of the base and the setting. According to Hall, the superstructure serves as an opportunity to develop any social relations, including gender and race. The present interpretation sees the superstructure as one of the driving elements in developing the economic base. Hall rightly observes the need to use the basics as the main parameter, but he shifts more toward social relations, while Marx seems more interested in material relations.