Critical Social Theory

“[It] is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that

determines their consciousness”

Marx, ‘Preface’ (1859).

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Marx’s new approach

Marx tells us: “The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness” (“Preface” 45)

What does “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness” mean?

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Great chain of being

Great chain of being—medieval conception of the order of the universe.

What does the phrase suggest?

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Marx and ideology

The concepts used in reasoning for any particular period, say about the good life, could be described as an ideology

My claim is that “social being that determines their consciousness” is one (perhaps ‘neutral’) description of ideology, but as we will see Marx also describes ideology in another way (perhaps in a ‘political’ sense).

What is ‘ideology’?

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Ideology: the very term

Coined in 1796 by Destutt, Comte de Tracy.

‘Ideology’ was to be a science of ideas—the process by which the mind formed thoughts.

This kind of study could reveal how erroneous beliefs are formed about human nature, say, which would be helpful in maintaining social order.

Destutt, Comte de Tracy (1754-1836)

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Marx and ideology

Marx appropriated the term. His project, however, is to subject ideology—the consciousness of his period—to criticism.

But by ‘criticism’, Marx does not mean the philosophical criticism that we saw in Kant—“the consciousness of men that determines their being”

He tells us: “Just as our opinion of an individual is not based on what he thinks of himself, so can we not judge of such a period … by its own consciousness. This consciousness must be explained … from the contradictions of material life” (‘Preface’ 45).

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Marx and ideology

For any particular period, it is the material conditions—such as the level of technology and the relations of production—that determine how we perceive ourselves and our relations to one another, i.e. our consciousness.

Consider again the example of a ‘great chain of being’. Do the notion of a ‘great chain of being’ make sense today? Why or why not?

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Marx and ideology

Marx tells us that ideological structures are not static; they change:

“At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of productions, or—what is but a legal expression for the same thing—with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto” (‘Preface’ 45)

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Marx and ideology

“No social order ever perishes before all the productive forces for which there is room in it have developed; and new, higher relations of production never appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society itself. … In broad outlines Asiatic, ancient, feudal and modern bourgeois modes of production can be designated as progressive epochs in the economic formation of society. The bourgeois relations of production are the last antagonistic form of the social process of production—antagonistic not in the sense of individual antagonism, but of one arising from the social conditions of life of [individuals]” (‘Preface’ 46)

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Marx and Ideology

First conception of ideology: “The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness” (‘Preface’ 45). It is the mode of production that directs intellectual life.

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Marx and Ideology

2nd conception: “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas; i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, consequently also enjoys the means of mental production, so that the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are on the whole subject to it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relations. … The individuals composing the ruling class possess among other things consciousness, and therefore think.” (The German Ideology 47)

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Marx and Engels: ideology

Marx and Engels’ examples: (1) separation of powers, and (2) the concepts

of honour and loyalty during the period where aristocracies reigned.

Each ruling class presents “its interests as the common interest of all the members of society” (48).

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Marx and Engels: ideology

The view of ideology as “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas” makes one presupposition:

1) the ruling class also “controls the means of mental production … The individuals composing the ruling class possess among other things consciousness, and therefore think” (47)

How plausible is this claim? Is it the case that only those in the ruling class think?

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The end of ideology

Recall that Marx held that ideological forms are not static; they change owing to contradictions in productive forces and relations of productions. Does this series of ideological forms end?

“This whole appearance, that the rule of a certain class is only the rule of certain ideas, comes to a natural end, of course, as soon as class rule in general ceases to be the form in which society is organized” (49)

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Two conceptions of ideology

“The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness” (‘Preface’ 45)

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas … [Each ruling class] present its interests as the common interest of all the members of society” (German Ideology 47-48).

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Marx and Engels: ideology

Both conception share the following features: 1) “The premises from which we start are not

arbitrary; they are no dogmas … They are the real individuals, their actions and their material conditions of life. … The first fact to be established, then, is the physical organization of these individuals” (German Ideology 107)

What is the significance of this starting point for analysis compared with that of Kant and other philosophers?

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Marx and Engels: ideology

The starting point for Marx’s analysis is with the given material conditions (natural bases) and work through the modifications resulting from man’s actions.

Contrast with the philosophical analyses offered by Marx and Engels’ contemporaries:

“In direct contrast to German Philosophy, which descends from heaven to earth, here one ascends from earth to heaven. … One does not set out from what men say, imagine or conceive nor from man as he is … imagined” (111-112)

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Marx and Engels: ideology

2) Both conception of ideology are committed to the view that it is the material base that conditions the superstructure.

Superstructure (legal, political, religious)

↑ Base (relations of production)

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Marx and Engels: ideology

In each epoch, beliefs—the superstructure—appear natural. But ideology (understood as the ideas of the ruling class) is a system of beliefs that systematically misrepresent social reality for the non-ruling classes.

How do religion and legal systems work as an ideology? If it is the case that for each historical period, there is one

set of dominant beliefs, can we ever get to the real world?

How does it affect the autonomy of individuals?