Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features

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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The core problem is reconciling economic determination with superstructural autonomy; Economic analysis is necessary but not sufficient for explaining racism; Economic level is necessary but not sufficient for explaining other levels (+42 more)

Related

• The theory of ideology must hold both relative autonomy and economic determination simultaneously. (similarity 0.91)
• Marxist theory requires holding both relative autonomy and economic determinacy at once (similarity 0.91)
• Marxism must hold determination in the last instance without falling into absolute autonomy (similarity 0.90)
• Marxism is not economic reductionism and requires attending to ideas in their own terms (similarity 0.90)
• The core problem is reconciling economic determination with superstructural autonomy (similarity 0.90)
• Political and intellectual action is the true expression of economic necessity (similarity 0.90)
• Economic determinacy operates through overdetermination, not simple mechanical causation (similarity 0.89)
• Superstructures may require relative autonomy to function at advanced capitalist stages. (similarity 0.89)
• The economic level is necessary but not sufficient to explain politics and ideology. (similarity 0.88)
• Economic structure constrains but does not determine political and ideological levels. (similarity 0.88)
• Marxism conceives society as overdetermined relatively autonomous levels, not a simple unity (similarity 0.87)
• Marxism reads social formations as overdetermined unities with relatively autonomous levels (similarity 0.87)
• Attending seriously to religious ideology saved Hill’s Marxism from economic reductionism (similarity 0.86)
• Marxist analysis needs both material grounding and historical specificity to avoid twin errors (similarity 0.86)
• The Second International enshrined reductive economic determinism as official Marxism (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Marxist theory requires holding both relative autonomy and economic determinacy at once #corroborates (0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 371
• Marxism is not economic reductionism and requires attending to ideas in their own terms #exemplifies (0.70)
• Ideology shapes economic crisis rather than merely reflecting it #corroborates (0.60)
• Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail #corroborates (0.60) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847