Materialism

Materialism

Materialism is an approach to history and society that is fundamental to Marx’s work. It has since been taken up, used, and modified by many theorists. For Marx, the material conditions of our society are formed by the mode of production (i.e. the current capitalist system of flexible accumulation). This mode of production deskills labor and blinds them from the true value of their work. Marx wrote about the base and superstructure of society. The base is the material conditions, the mode of production. The superstructure is everything else that stems from these material conditions, such as culture, institutions, law, and technology. In order to radically change society and make it more equitable, the material conditions (the economic base) would have to change. New technologies, new laws, and new cultural movements will not be enough. In the end, these things can only be superficial changes.

Is culture entirely determined by the capitalist structure of our economy? The point of view that answers affirmatively has been called “vulgar Marxism” or “economic determinism”—rigidly viewing that all relations are determined by capitalism. For this reason (and to better account for many cultural developments), subsequent theorists have tried to nuance Marx’s theory of materialism. Raymond Williams, for instance, advocated for a cultural materialism—a theory that would view culture as part of the material base of society, not simply part of the superstructure.

In Postmodern Geographies, Edward Soja argues that space should be considered part of society’s material conditions. Marx considered geography “little more than an ‘unnecessary complication’” (Soja 32). One of the problems, as Marx saw it, was that workers identified with their nation states and cities rather than with other members of their class. Since Marx viewed history as dialectical, he privileged time over space (see the entry on Dialectics). Space should not just be seen as a counter-progressive part of the superstructure. Instead, space demands our attention. As John Berger said, “it is space, not time, that hides consequences from us.”

David Harvey is also committed to a theory of materialism that more fully accounts for space. Edward Soja considers Harvey the leader of a “strategic Marxist retrenchment…to keep alive the project of historical-geographical materialism against the rising anti-theoretical (and frequently anti-Marxist) onslaught” (72). Soja wants to further nuance Harvey by working toward a theory that would “reinscribe and resituate the meaning and significance of space in history and historical materialism” (73).