Critical Social Theory

1
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).

2
Marxs 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?

3
Great chain of being

• Great chain of beingmedieval conception of the
  order of the universe.
• What does the phrase suggest?

4
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?

5
Ideology the very term

• Coined in 1796 by Destutt, Comte de Tracy.
• Ideology was to be a science of ideasthe
  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)

6
Marx and ideology

• Marx appropriated the term. His project, however,
  is to subject ideologythe consciousness of his
  periodto criticism.
• But by criticism, Marx does not mean the
  philosophical criticism that we saw in Kantthe
  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).

7
Marx and ideology

• For any particular period, it is the material
  conditionssuch as the level of technology and
  the relations of productionthat 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?

8
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, orwhat is but a legal expression
  for the same thingwith the property relations
  within which they have been at work hitherto
  (Preface 45)

9
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 productionantagonistic not in the
  sense of individual antagonism, but of one
  arising from the social conditions of life of
  individuals (Preface 46)

10
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.

11
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)

12
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).

13
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?

14
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)

15
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).

16
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?

17
Marx and Engels ideology

• The starting point for Marxs analysis is with
  the given material conditions (natural bases) and
  work through the modifications resulting from
  mans 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)

18
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)

19
Marx and Engels ideology

• In each epoch, beliefsthe superstructureappear
  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?