Base and superstructure: Difference between revisions

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Among Marxists, the very concept of 'base and superstructure' is contentious. The historian [[E. P. Thompson]] argue that:<blockquote>Meanwhile in serious intellectual circles the argument about basis/superstructure goes ''on and on and on''... A whole continent of discourse is being developed, with its metropolitan centres & its villas in the mountains, which rests, not upon the solid globe of historical evidence, but on the precarious point of a strained metaphor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=E.P. |title=The Poverty of Theory & Other Essays |publisher=Merlin |year=1978 |___location=London |pages=330}}</ref></blockquote>[[Ellen Meiksins Wood]] says: 'The base/superstructure metaphor has always been more trouble than it is worth',<ref>Wood, E.M. (1990: 126). ‘Falling through the cracks: E.P. Thompson and the debate on base and superstructure.’ In Kaye and McClelland (1990: 124-152).</ref> while [[Terry Eagleton]] describes base and superstructure as 'this now universally reviled paradigm'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eagleton |first=Terry |date=2000 |title=Base and superstructure revisited |journal=New Literary History |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=231-40}}</ref>

However, other Marxists continue to insist on the paradigm's importance. For example, in Paul Thomas' words:<blockquote>Without Marx’s juxtaposition of base to superstructure we would probably not be speaking of social contradictions at all but would instead be discussing science, technology, production, labor, the economy, & the state along lines very different from those that are commonplace today.<ref>Thomas, P. (1991). ‘Critical reception: Marx then and now.’ In Carver (1991: 23-54), ''The Cambridge Companion To Marx''. Cam­bridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref></blockquote>Similarly, from [[Chris Harman]]:<blockquote>Far from ignoring the impact of the ‘superstructure’ on the ‘base’, as many ignorant critics have claimed for more than a cen­tury, Marx builds his whole account of human history around it.<ref>Harman, C. (1998). ''Marxism and History. Two Essays''. London: Book­marks.</ref></blockquote>Or again, from [[Stuart Hall|Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)]]:<blockquote>Of the many problems which perforce Marx left in an ‘undeveloped’ state, none is more crucial than that of ‘base & superstructure’.<ref>Hall, S. (2019: 143). ''Essential Essays. Volume 1''. Morley, D. (ed.). London: Duke University Press.</ref></blockquote>

===Max Weber===