Marx's Superstructure and Levels of Society

Influence of Production on Workers, Capitalist Owners and Society

Apr 30, 2009

Marx believed that society is shaped by the dominant capitalist class, the owners of production, but that the lower classes will eventually start a revolution.

According to Karl Marx, a society is shaped by their economic resources and activities. Any political, cultural or moral institutions depend on the economic factors and structures of a given society. Conditions, means and ownership of production play a paramount role on the formation and future of societies.

The Conditions of Production

According to Marx, there are three levels to each society. The most basic are the conditions of production. These include the natural resources, climate and prime materials and are the cement or building block of society.

These conditions often put limits on the type of society and culture and directly influence the way of thinking. For example, nomadic tribes will have different lifestyles, morals and mentality compared to other tribes. The nomads would lack identification with a particular territory and this in turn brings forth different cultural attitudes and morals.

The Forces and Means of Production and the Growing Bourgeoisie

The next level of society is the forces of production. This would include tools and machinery and there usually is a necessary relationship with ownership of those tools and machinery. In most cases work would depend on property, for example, the farmer who works on the master’s land. In the Middle Ages there was a type of mutual contract between the vassal, that is the farmer, and his lord, the land owner.

The means of production define the political and ideological conditions of society. This decision usually rests on those in power, the dominant class, owners of the means of production or in the case of the Middle Ages, the landowners.

In Marx’s times it was the growing class of merchants who became the ruling bourgeoisie who were defying the noble class of their times by controlling and exploiting the poor working class.

Class Struggle between the Proletarians and the Capitalists

The Proletarians, the workers are in constant opposition to the ruling class, the capitalists who exploit their labor in exchange for low salaries.

However, Marx claims that since capitalists are essentially greedy and only interested in making profit and project values that they do not abide by themselves, they will eventually self-destruct, leading to an uprising or revolution by the lower classes.

As a result, the capitalist society would turn into a communist society, where the proletarians would rule in egalitarian manner over their own common and shared property and control the means of production and also thoughts and morals of their own society.

After a temporary dictatorship of the proletariat class communism or a “society without class distinctions” would come into effect when land and machinery would be owned in equal measure by all the people.

Marx’s theory has had a profound impact on philosophy and political theory. Yet it is a movement that has also undergone significant changes throughout history. The historical circumstances may have changed, yet the problem of inequality and exploitation still exists today.

The copyright of the article Marx's Superstructure and Levels of Society in Political Philosophy is owned by Arash Farzaneh. Permission to republish Marx's Superstructure and Levels of Society in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.