MARX

historical materialism refers to the study of society from a viewpoint

that conceives of history as the outcome of opposing forces. Marx thus
broke with a more conventional linear notion of history as involving a
steady progress on the basis of a cultural, economic, or otherwise social
variable, in favor of a more conflictual notion of history in terms of
societal forces that invoke one another precisely because they are in
opposition.
Thus, the political, cultural, and socio-historical conditions of a society
are explained as the outcome (synthesis) of opposing forces (thesis and
antithesis) that are of an economic nature.
on the basis of a dialectical analysis, all things existing should be
criticized in order to contribute to laying bare the injustices that exist in
society and work towards the betterment of society. Philosophy should
have a practical intent and be guided by explicitly political motives.
Marx applied the perspective of historical materialism to investi- gate
and critique the society of his days, that is, nineteenth-century industrial
societies that were undergoing rapid transformations under influence of
the expansion of capitalism.
Marx argued that the essence of modern society lay in its economic
transformation from feudalism to capitalism. Whereas feudal societies
were predominantly agri- cultural and centered around the power of
landowners over serfs, capitalism developed from a gradual
concentration of the means of production in technologically advanced
factories.
The owners of these means were relatively few in number but extremely
powerful in being able to control the labor of a relatively large number
of workers and determine their wages.
The owning class, Marx argued, can thus create enormous amounts of
wealth, which do not have to be shared with the large class of workers
who are powerless and alienated.
Worker alienation under capitalism takes on at least four forms: (1)
alienation from the product of ones labor because the product does not
belong to the worker; (2) alienation from labor itself because labor,
under conditions of a division of labor, constitutes but a fragment of the
production process; (3) alienation from social relations because they are
valued only in terms of market conditions; and (4) alienation from
oneself because ones entire existence is dominated by the demands of
capitalism.
Marxs theory is not to be understood merely as a theory of the
economy, for his analysis of capitalism is meant to provide the basis for
an analysis of society.
The economic organization of society is its material core from which all
other social developments in matters of politics, culture, and law can be
explained. This is summarized in Marxs famous dictum that the
infrastructure of a society determines it superstructure.
Thus, the division between the economic classes of owners and non-
owners appears at the societal level as a class antagonism between the
relatively small but powerful bourgeoisie and the relatively large but
powerless proletariat.
The bourgeoisie can articulate its economic power also at the political,
cultural, and legal level because of its control over all important
institutions of society, such as government, the legal system, art,
science, and education.
The economic interests of the bourgeoisie, therefore, also become arti-
culated at the societal level as the dominant interests that count for
society as a whole.
because the basic conflicts of a society are always economic, according
to Marx, only the destruction of capitalism in favor of a communist
mode of production, whereby the workers collectively own and control
the means of production, would ensure a successful revolution of society
into a more just social order.
Marx did not develop a comprehensive perspective on law and his ideas
on law are scattered throughout his writings, especially in some of his
earlier works. Marxs theory of the state provides the most useful entry
into his perspective on law.
Congruent with his materialist perspective, Marx asserts that the
economic conditions of society determine what type of state will
develop, which in a capitalist society implies that the state will be
controlled by the bourgeoisie as an instrument to secure economic rights
and to moderate class conflict. Thus, the capitalist state represents and
secures the power of the domi- nant economic class which now also
becomes the politically dominant class.
Marx argues that the democratic republic, rather than being a more
egalitarian form of government relative to centralized autocratic
regimes, is the most advanced form of the capitalist state, for it totally
disregards the property distinctions that have arisen under capitalism.
Similar to Marxs notion of the state, his perspective on law is
instrumentalist and views the legal system in function of its role as an
instrument of control serving bourgeois interests. Rather than abiding by
a principle of the rule of law that holds that it is just for the law to be
applied equally and fairly to all, Marx maintains that capitalist law
actually enhances the conditions of inequality that mark capitalist
society.
Specifically, Marx contends that the capitalist legal system contributes
to, as well as legitimates, the inequalities that exist as a result of
capitalist economic conditions. In the practice of law, it is revealed that
the legal system contributes to inequality because capitalist law
establishes and applies individualized rights of freedom, which benefit
those who own while disfavoring those who are without property.
The formal equality that is granted in law by treating the various parties
that are in contract with one another or with the state as equal
contributes to sustain and develop the economic inequalities that exist
among legal subjects.
Legal doctrine, moreover, justifies the practices of capitalist law on the
basis of a notion of justice claimed to be universally valid but which in
actuality serves the interests of only the dominant economic class.
As such, the law takes on the form of a bourgeois ideology. In its
ultimate triumph, moreover, the ideology of capitalist law becomes
widely accepted, even among those members of society who are
economically disadvantaged and thus additionally subject to the
inequalities brought about by the legal system.