Economic determinacy operates through overdetermination, not simple mechanical causation

Evidence

Whether or not we try to develop an adequate Marxist theory of ideology from this point, it seems to be the case that the problem of ideology presents us with a paradigm instance of Marxist theory as such , what Althusser has called the necessity—and the difficulty—of holding on to “both ends of the chain” at once: the relative autonomy of a region (e.g., ideology) and its “determination in the last instance” (i.e., the determinacy of ideology by other instances, and, in the last instance, by the economic). It is the necessity to hold fast to the latter protocol which has, from time to time, sanctioned a tendency to collapse the levels of a special formation—especially, to collapse “ideas” or ideology into “the base” (narrowly defined as “the economic”). On the other hand, it is the requirement to explore the difficult terrain of “relative autonomy” (of ideology) which has given the field of ideology its awkward openness. It is through this gap—to borrow a recent metaphor of Althusser’s—that the “pup” of semiology continues to “slip between the legs” of a Marxist theory of ideology. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 371 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Economic determination acts by setting limits rather than predicting specific outcomes; The core problem is reconciling economic determination with superstructural autonomy; Economic level is necessary but not sufficient for explaining other levels (+9 more)

Related

• The theory of ideology must hold both relative autonomy and economic determination simultaneously. (similarity 0.91)
• The core problem is reconciling economic determination with superstructural autonomy (similarity 0.91)
• Marxism must hold determination in the last instance without falling into absolute autonomy (similarity 0.90)
• Marxist theory requires holding both relative autonomy and economic determinacy at once (similarity 0.89)
• Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features (similarity 0.89)
• Political and intellectual action is the true expression of economic necessity (similarity 0.87)
• Superstructures may require relative autonomy to function at advanced capitalist stages. (similarity 0.86)
• Marxism is not economic reductionism and requires attending to ideas in their own terms (similarity 0.86)
• Marxism conceives society as overdetermined relatively autonomous levels, not a simple unity (similarity 0.86)
• Marxism reads social formations as overdetermined unities with relatively autonomous levels (similarity 0.85)
• Economic determination in Marxism operates through how levels combine, not their inner content (similarity 0.84)
• Modes of determination allow ideological superstructures more than a residual role (similarity 0.84)
• No single practice (like economics) determines all others; overdetermination does. (similarity 0.83)
• The Second International enshrined reductive economic determinism as official Marxism (similarity 0.83)
• Economic structure constrains but does not determine political and ideological levels. (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Marxist theory requires holding both relative autonomy and economic determinacy at once #expands (0.85) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 371
• Historical conjunctures are overdetermined accumulations of heterogeneous contradictions #exemplifies (0.80)
• Hegemony is reproduced through unstable, shifting equilibria rather than static dominance #expands (0.70)
• Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features #expands (0.60)
• Economic structure is necessary but not sufficient to explain race relations #qualifies (0.50)
• Juridico-political ideology masks the economic’s determinant role under capitalism #contradicts (0.40)