A society’s economic base determines its political and juridical superstructure.

Evidence

In the social production of their life men enter into relations with each other which are determined, necessary and independent of their will, that is into relations of production, which correspond to a given level of development of the material forces of production. The ensemble of these relations constitutes the economic structure of society, in other words the real base on top of which is raised a political and juridical superstructure and to which correspond given social forms of consciousness. … At a given point in their development, the material productive forces of society enter into contradiction with the pre-existing relations of production (that is the property relations, which is the juridical equivalent of that expression) within which these forces had previously moved. These relations of production, from a form of development of the productive forces, are converted into an obstacle to them. And then there arrives an age of social revolution. With the change in the economic base the colossal overhanging superstructure is revolutionised and collapses more or less rapidly … A social formation does not perish until all the productive forces for which there is room in it have been developed and new relations of production do not take their place until the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the existing society. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1628

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gramsci’s own quotation of the Marxian base/superstructure model and the conditions for social revolution — foundational vocabulary the critical-theory toolkit builds from.
• XREF: Connects to how Hall’s cultural studies both uses and complicates this base/superstructure model; also underpins later discussions of ideology and hegemony. — connects to: Changes in the economic base drive revolution in the political and juridical superstructure.; Juridico-political ideology masks the economic’s determinant role under capitalism; Economics’ legitimating power depends on the surrounding political and cultural context. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1194 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Changes in the economic base drive revolution in the political and juridical superstructure. #expands (0.95)
• Juridico-political ideology masks the economic’s determinant role under capitalism #expands (0.88)
• Economic determination can assign dominance to politics or religion in an epoch #qualifies (0.85) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 493
• Economic forces decide history but traditions and politics also act #expands (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 274
• The superstructure exerts real effects despite being ultimately economically determined #expands (0.85) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 336
• Civil society stands between economic structure and the coercive State. #expands (0.82) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 829
• In late capitalism the economic base generates its cultural superstructures directly #exemplifies (0.82) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 32
• Economics’ legitimating power depends on the surrounding political and cultural context. #qualifies (0.80) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1194
• Social structures carry history and continuity that independently affect economic systems #complicates (0.80) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 29
• Society operates as a complex formation structured in dominance with relative institutional autonomy #qualifies (0.80)
• The economy’s weight relative to society varies historically rather than ontologically #qualifies (0.78) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1176
• Economic and juridical-political thought are heterogeneous and incompatible worlds #complicates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1454