HISTORICAL MATERIALISM EXPLAINED | A Marxist Theory of History
Summary
TLDRThis script advocates for a scientific approach to understanding human society and its development through historical materialism. It discusses the evolution of societal structures from hunter-gatherers to class societies, emphasizing the impact of modes of production on social relations and ideologies. The script highlights the inherent conflicts within capitalism, the rise of the working class, and the potential for a socialist economy where production is driven by need rather than profit, ultimately calling for the abolition of the capitalist class and the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat.
Takeaways
- 🔬 The script advocates for a scientific approach to understanding human society, emphasizing the importance of historical materialism.
- 🧠 It discusses the materialist outlook in science, which posits that all phenomena, including social ones, have a cause rooted in the material world.
- 🔄 The script introduces the concept of dialectical materialism, suggesting that social phenomena are interconnected and constantly evolving.
- 🏭 The mode of production is identified as the foundation of human society, with the relations of production defining how people interact within it.
- 🌱 The earliest societies, such as hunter-gatherer groups, had an egalitarian structure due to the nature of their collective mode of production.
- 🌐 As societies develop, the forces of production evolve, leading to changes in social structures, cultures, and ideas, reflecting the materialist assertion in social science.
- 💡 The development of a surplus product in society allows for specialization and the emergence of a division of labor, which in turn leads to class societies.
- 🏛 The state is presented as a product of class society, used by the ruling class to enforce social order and protect their interests.
- 🌟 The French Revolution of 1789 is cited as an example of a rising class using political power to change social relations and advance their interests.
- 🏭 Capitalism is described as the current dominant mode of production, characterized by socialized production for private profit, leading to class conflict.
- 🛑 The script calls for the abolition of the dictatorship of capital and the establishment of a political system under the dictatorship of the proletariat, where democratic rule applies to all public life.
- 🔄 It highlights the general trends in capitalist development, which continuously divide society into workers and capitalists, despite the complexities of individual circumstances.
Q & A
What is the primary advantage the working class should take to gain political power?
-The working class should take advantage of a clear understanding of human society, which includes understanding how particular groups respond and behave, clarifying competing interests, and understanding the relations between different groups.
What scientific approach is suggested for understanding human society?
-The scientific approach suggested is historical materialism, which involves careful observation, developing hypotheses, and determining their validity based on material causes in the world.
What is the fundamental assumption of all sciences according to the script?
-The fundamental assumption is that all phenomena, whether biological, chemical, or psychological, have causes that exist in the material world.
Why is it important to avoid mechanistic materialism when studying human society?
-It's important to avoid mechanistic materialism because phenomena are fluid and full of motion, having multiple causes and effects that interact constantly. Understanding these interactions is crucial for a comprehensive view.
What is the basis of human society's existence according to the script?
-The basis of human society's existence is production, which is the metabolic relationship between society and its environment, determining how a society goes about production, or its mode of production.
How did hunter-gatherer societies manage their means of production?
-Hunter-gatherer societies collectively owned their means of production, with everyone involved in the process to produce the minimum needed to sustain their existence, resulting in an egalitarian social structure.
What role does surplus product play in the development of society?
-The surplus product allows individuals to specialize in different sectors of production, leading to the division of labor and the emergence of class society with differing material interests.
What is the role of the state in a class society?
-The state emerges to hold society together amidst class conflict, wielded by the ruling class to enforce social order and maintain their material interests.
What causes the conflict between the working class and the capitalist class in modern society?
-The conflict arises because workers seek to keep as much of the value they generate through higher wages, while capitalists seek to take as much of the value generated by lowering wages, leading to irreconcilable material interests.
What is the ultimate aim of the working class according to the script?
-The ultimate aim of the working class is to abolish private ownership over the means of production, replace it with public ownership and control, and establish a socialist economy where production is carried out according to need and want.
Outlines
🔍 Understanding Historical Materialism
This paragraph discusses the importance of adopting a scientific approach to understanding human society, termed historical materialism. It explains the concept of materialism, emphasizing that all social phenomena have causes rooted in the material world. The text highlights the complexity and fluidity of interactions between causes and effects, advocating for a dialectical view of the world. The paragraph concludes by stressing the limitations of social sciences compared to hard sciences due to the lack of precise experimental tools.
🏹 Evolution of Social Structures and Modes of Production
This section explores how societies' modes of production influence their social structures, cultures, and ideas. Starting with hunter-gatherer societies, it describes their egalitarian nature driven by collective ownership of production tools. As forces of production develop, surpluses lead to the division of labor and the emergence of class societies. This creates conflicting material interests between classes, exemplified by the rise of the capitalist class and the conflicts inherent in capitalism. The paragraph also explains the historical transition from feudalism to capitalism, highlighting the role of surplus production in societal evolution.
⚙️ Class Conflict in Capitalist Society
This paragraph delves into the class conflict within capitalist societies, where the working class, which constitutes the majority, does not own the means of production. Workers sell their labor for wages, while capitalists own the means of production and seek to maximize profits, leading to an irreconcilable conflict of interests. The text discusses the potential for the working class to envision new relations of production and the eventual need to abolish private ownership, aiming for public ownership and control. The ultimate goal is a fully socialized economy where production is based on need rather than profit.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Political Power
💡Historical Materialism
💡Scientific Method
💡Materialist Outlook
💡Dialectical View
💡Mode of Production
💡Forces of Production
💡Relations of Production
💡Class Society
💡State
💡Capitalism
💡Dictatorship of the Proletariat
Highlights
The necessity for the working class to understand human society for political power.
The importance of a scientific approach to understand the world, including human society and its development.
Historical materialism as a method to comprehend the world around us.
The scientific method's application to social sciences, despite the lack of experimental tools.
The materialist outlook that all phenomena have causes rooted in the material world.
Avoiding mechanistic materialism and embracing a more fluid and interactive understanding of phenomena.
The concept of dialectical materialism as an exploration of the world's interconnected phenomena.
The acknowledgment that social phenomena have causes, even if not immediately apparent.
The limitations of social sciences due to the absence of precise experimental tools.
The potential dissolution of the divide between hard and soft sciences with advanced tools like societal simulations.
The foundational basis of human society on the production of necessary goods like food, shelter, and water.
The mode of production as the defining characteristic of a society's approach to production.
Hunter-gatherer societies as an example of early egalitarian social structures based on collective ownership.
The relationship between the development of the forces of production and the emergence of class societies.
The role of the state as a product of class society, used to enforce social order.
The capitalist mode of production and its inherent conflict between the forces and relations of production.
The working class's struggle for political power and the abolition of capitalist relations of production.
The envisioned socialist economy where production is carried out according to need and want, not private profit.
The current snapshot of capitalist society showing a complex class structure beyond simple worker-capitalist divides.
The general trends in capitalist development that continuously divide society into two main classes.
Transcripts
if we're going to see political power
for the working class every advantage we
can get we need to take it one of these
advantages we can take is a clear
understanding of human society this kind
of understanding would give us insight
into how particular groups may respond
and behave to given events clarification
of competing interests and to understand
the relations between these different
groups what we need is to take a
scientific approach to human society and
its development we need historical
materialism in trying to understand the
world around us we've developed the
scientific method it involves careful
observation of phenomena developing
hypotheses about these observations and
determining whether or not these
hypotheses hold up need to be refined or
eliminated in light of new data but the
fundamental assumption of all the
sciences is that all phenomena
biological chemical psychological all
these phenomena have a cause and that
these causes exist right here in the
material world not often the heavens not
off with god not off in some plane of
existence independent of this world but
right here this is a materialist outlook
that science takes and most of you would
agree this is a correct assumption about
our world things don't just happen
because they happen they have a cause
and just because we may not know
something's caused at the moment doesn't
mean that cause doesn't exist it's
important we don't fall into a kind of
mechanistic materialism where one thing
is either only a cause or an effect
where one phenomena has a single cause
and their interaction is a single event
isolated from everything else in reality
things are a lot more fluid and full of
motion a single phenomena can have a
dizzying amount of causes and it can
often be both a cause and an effect we
find all things are constantly
interacting with one another and that
each thing cannot be properly understood
outside of these interactions
this is a kind of dialectical view of
our world for those who are interested
we'll have a separate video exploring
dialectical materialism so in taking a
scientific approach to human society we
have to make the same assumption all
social phenomena have a cause from the
structures of our governments our
cultural attitudes our wars our ideas
and so on all have causes in studying
these causes we have to recognize that
in the science of human society we lack
the sophisticated tools of
experimentation available to the quote
hard sciences and this is really at the
heart of the seeming divide between the
hard sciences and soft sciences for the
soft sciences more aptly called the
social sciences we just don't have the
precise tools to carry out carefully
controlled experiments but if and when
we do develop these tools this seeming
divide will dissolve for instance you
can imagine running powerful calibrated
simulations of human society where it
would be possible to hold constants
change variables and record resulting
effects so without these sophisticated
tools for the moment the science of
human society really can't make the same
kind of pinpoint accurate predictions
that the fields of modern physics and
chemistry can we're limited by the tools
we have and for the moment what we have
is careful observation a powerful tool
in the sciences just looking at human
society it can be overwhelming but in
making the scientific assumption about
human society the question we need to
start with is on what basis does human
society exist in the first place humans
as living beings need food shelter water
and so on to live and if a society is
unable to produce these necessary
products there is no society to speak of
what you find is that production is the
basis of human society's existence a
metabolic relationship between society
and her environment how a society goes
about production is what we call its
mode of production the instruments and
natural resources used to constitute the
means of production together with labor
give us the forces of production the
forces of production on their own can't
give us a full characterization of a
society's mode of production without
understanding how people relate to one
another in the course of production we
need to understand the relations of
production as well looking at the
history of human societies we see a
number of productive modes that have
existed one of the earliest being
hunter-gatherer societies these
societies utilize spears arrows and
woven baskets to forage for their
subsistence the means of production in
these societies were owned collectively
and everyone had to involve themselves
in the process of production to produce
the minimum needed to sustain their
existence in these hunter-gatherer
societies we find an incredibly
egalitarian social structure in ethos
not because these humans were somehow
morally superior or rationally superior
to other humans but because their crude
forces of production demanded this
egalitarianism these are not productive
tools members of this society cannot
afford to leave others to go hungry or
uncared for to restrict access to these
tools
all hands on deck are needed to muster
together just the bare minimum it is in
the hunter-gatherers material interest
that they themselves practice this
egalitarianism pressure others to behave
accordingly and to shun all and any
anti-egalitarian behavior this material
interest for egalitarianism is reflected
in this society's sense of morality
their ideas about themselves and the
world around them the ways in which they
govern themselves and so on what's being
highlighted here is that how societies
go about production ultimately
determines said society's ideas social
structures cultures and so on humanity's
physical and mental constitutions along
with their environments have remained
constant throughout these diverse
societies in relation to the variable
element their mode of production a
change in the mode of production forces
a change in the social phenomena of
society of course we can't be
mechanistic in our thinking these
resultant social phenomena go on to
influence reinforce and shape production
in a constant feedback loop but in the
final analysis the cause of social
phenomena is material this is the
materialist assertion in the science of
human society a general tendency for the
forces of production to develop over
time is an observable phenomena within
human societies as an aside this may be
rooted in a human interest to expend a
minimum and produce a maximum to make
whatever work we're performing easier
these improvements on the instruments of
production accumulation of knowledge and
refinement of skill increases a
society's output as the forces of
production develop in the
hunter-gatherer society the output
begins to consistently sit above the
minimum product needed to sustain the
society for the first time we have a
surplus product and the expansion of
wants and needs this surplus allows
particular individuals to specialize in
sectors of production we have the
emergence of a division of labor the
existence of artisans scholars artists
warrior casts chiefs feudal lords and so
on are made possible by this surplus
product with the division of labor we
have a society in which different groups
of individuals now relate to the means
of production differently and so too we
see a difference in material interests
we have the emergence of a class society
in our hunter-gatherer society
everyone's relation to the means of
production were equal and thus so too
were their material interests everyone
had an interest in successful hunts and
forages minimal wear on tools good
health for all and so on in a class
society where people's relation to the
means of production differ say a society
in which the land and tools are
privately owned by a lord and doled out
to farmers in exchange for a portion of
the product produced we have different
and conflicting material interests
between the classes the lord wants to
take as much of the yield as possible
whereas the farmers want to keep as much
of the yield as possible these are
irreconcilable material interests in
which there is no resolution under the
given mode of production politics in the
class society reflects the class
conflict with members of each class
seeking to advance their material
interests this deep and irreconcilable
conflict within society necessitates a
specialized armed body to hold this
society together the state emerges as a
product of class society wielded by one
class against another this ruling class
whose basis of existence is the
appropriation of the surplus product has
a material interest in maintaining the
dominant set of social relations and
hence uses the state to enforce this
social order as changes occur in the
forces of production given classes may
emerge and develop while others may
stagnate and decay a rising class can
emerge from the developing forces of
production which begins to envision a
new set of social relations in line with
their material interests struggling
against a stagnant class whose material
interest is tied to the current social
order a struggle for political supremacy
ensues over the power to alter and
enforce a society's social relations the
french revolution of 1789 brought the
rising french capitals class birth from
the development of trade and commerce to
political power
with this political supremacy rested
from a stagnant aristocracy the capitals
class did away with the dominant feudal
relations of society which had been
restricting the developing forces of
production and began the construction of
capitalist relations of production in
our modern age capitalism is the
dominant mode of production as opposed
to having individual artisans complete
goods from start to finish production
under capitalism is socialized allowing
products to be produced with extreme
efficiency
although these workers are the ones who
produce the products ownership and
control remains private with production
being carried out for the private profit
of these owners on the market in this
society we see a conflict between the
developed forces of production and the
now limiting capitalist relations of
production the highly productive forces
continually revolutionized undermine
profit rates in the long term and
periodically throw the market into
crisis in reaction owners seek to
maintain profit rates through means such
as the monopolization of markets and
innovative technologies holding back the
full productivity of the forces of
production this conflict in the mode of
production is reflected in the class
conflict between the working class and
the capitalist class
members of the working class who
constitute the overwhelming majority of
society do not own the means of
production their only means of
subsistence is selling their labor power
in exchange for a wage
capitalists privately own the means of
production and hire others to work on
these means to produce a product for a
market to be sold workers seek to keep
as much of the value they generate and
seeking higher wages whereas capitalists
seek to take as much of the value
generated and seeking to lower wages
here we have an irreconcilable conflict
of material interests with no resolution
under capitalism as the forces of
production continue to develop
socializing all that was previously
produced by the skilled individual and
dispossessing all those capitalists
unable to compete the ranks of the
working class expands this rising class
begins to envision new relations of
production in line with their material
interests it is in the working class's
material interest that this relationship
of exploitation between the worker and
owner is abolished altogether such that
the surplus generated by the working
class is kept by the working class
private ownership over the means of
production is to be abolished and
replaced by public ownership and control
letting loose the full productive power
of the forces of production in this
society everyone's relation to the means
of production is equal and we thus no
longer have antagonistic economic groups
that can only improve their condition by
ruining the other by working hard in
this society the individual not only
raises the standard of living for
themselves but all those around them and
vice versa as the freed forces of
production accelerate in their
development society may enter a fully
socialized economy in which production
is carried out according to need and
want as opposed to private profit in
conjunction with this expanding working
class under capitalism the ranks of the
capitals class shrink as ownership over
the means of production ever concentrate
in fewer hands every socially necessary
function once performed by the
capitalist is continually devolved to
the working class such that the
developed modern capitalist exists with
no real social function beyond that of a
passive recipient of the surplus product
produced by the workers the capitalist
class once playing a revolutionary role
has become a useless and parasitic class
whose material interest is to defend the
current social relations of society at
all costs in perpetuity this defense is
carried out by the dictatorship of
capital in which ultimate political
authority lies among those with wealth
and capital to achieve their aims the
workers must abolish this dictatorship
of capital and establish a political
system in which legislation of the law
execution of the law defense of the law
and judgment of the law are all under
majority rule they must establish the
dictatorship of the proletariat a true
and full application of democratic rule
to all spheres of public life with this
political supremacy the working classes
may abolish the capitalist relations of
production and begin the construction of
a socialist economy keep in mind what
we've been discussing thus far are
general trends as we've discussed
earlier all sciences are limited by the
available tools and for the science of
human society we just don't have the
tools to make pinpoint accurate
day-to-day predictions taking a look at
the current snapshot of capitalist
society you don't see a neat divide
between the workers and capitalists
that's been described we see workers who
have investments in the stock market
working class families who own their own
homes we see highly skilled workers who
may leverage this skill to secure a
comfortable living standard you also
still see small business owners who
aren't big enough to hire enough
employees to carry out all the functions
of a business they have to work
themselves and in many parts of the
world you still see the existence of a
peasant class but the general laws of
capitalist development continuously
divide society into these two grand
classes hey it's been a minute thank you
all for your patience and and wow there
are a lot of you if you want to learn
more about historical materialism i've
linked some resources in the description
below i also want to thank all of my
beautiful patrons you make these videos
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