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CHAPTER 13
THE MATERIALIST: KARL MARX
Chapter 13 Key Concepts
Karl Marx combined Hegel s dialectical view of history
with Feuerbach s concept of a materialist zeitgeist (spirit of
the age) to produce historical materialism. Historical
materialism is the view that history is the ongoing result of
constant tension between two classes: the exploiters and the
exploited. Friedrich Engels helped Marx write The Manifesto
of the Communist Party and spread historical materialism.
The dialectical process consists of an interaction between
an original condition (thesis) and a contrary condition
Marx identified five epochs of history that comprise the
dialectical development of history: primitive, slave, feudal,
capitalist, and socialist/communist. As each epoch develops,
its basic economic structure matures, and the material
conditions under which people live change.
Marx argued that the economic structure of a culture
creates and forms its own ideas. Most important is the
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The material substructure produces ideas and institutions
compatible with it. These constitute the culture s
superstructure and include art, science, philosophy, religion,
and government.
Marx was sharply critical of capitalism, which he saw as a
stage on the way to a classless socialistic economy. In his
Under capitalism, the two struggling classes are the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie consists of
Marx predicted that the demands of the bourgeoisie
would result in an ever-growing proletariat whose living
The most destructive feature of capitalism, according to
Marx, is alienation, which occurs when the worker no longer
feels at one with the product of his or her labor; it is a state
of powerlessness, frustration, and despair. Capitalism
alienates people from each other, from nature, and from
work.
Marx distinguished alienated life from species-life,
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Erich Fromm uses the concept of alienated love to explain
Chapter 13 Teaching Tips
1. Invite students to discuss one or two current social issues
from a Marxist perspective. For example, analyze affirmative
2. Assign some out-of-class research concerning educational
3. Discuss the Philosophical Query on page 376 by having
the class analyze the nature of their present college education.
What values does it serve? Begin the discussion with guided
4. Have students write two stories about the woman in the
5. Discuss the Philosophical Query on page 381. Raise the
possibility that as more and more special groups demand
affirmative action quotas (whatever they are called), the
exploited classes will focus on fighting each other instead of
addressing the basic issue of exploitation. If material
6. Sadly, too many students instantly understand the
concept of psychic alienation when it is discussed in terms of
7. Fromm s analysis of alienated love rarely fails to raise
8. Have the class discuss the possibility that rapid,
qualitative changes in technology have altered the very nature
of work for most people by co-opting us with gadgets and
9. Ask the class whether it is any more possible to be a
wealthy Marxist than it is to be a wealthy saint or cynic.
10. Use the photo on page 386 of Marx s wax effigy becoming
11. Use the photo on page 382 of environmental disruption to
raise questions about how much comfort, convenience, and
12. Related to tip 11, raise the issue of who should decide
what is authentic and what isn t. Could it be that Marx