Capitalism becomes a whole form of social life through the superstructures, not just production.

Evidence

It was through the state, through its work in and with the family, the law, education, the multiplicity of private associations, the cultural apparatus, the church, the formation of new strata of the intelligentsia, the formation of political parties, and the development of public opinion—in short, in the complex sphere of the superstructures—that capitalism ceased to be simply a system of production and became a whole form of social life, conforming everything else to its own movement. This expansion of the conception of what it is the superstructures “do” for capital is Gramsci’s first contribution. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 526

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Gramscian claim that superstructures transform capitalism from a production system into a total social form, extending the orbit of key concept for this project.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s background in economic thought; Gramsci’s expansion of ‘what superstructures do’ is the seed of the cultural-economics debates that Hall himself engages. — connects to: Fordism reorganized society and culture, not just production. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 814; The economy has become synonymous with all social life including self-relations — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 937; Under real subsumption, social life itself becomes object of capitalist speculation — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 457 (+3 more)