Historical materialism requires retaining economic determination without economic reductionism

Evidence

We can’t be materialists in that way any longer. But I do think that we are still required to think about the way in which ideological/cultural/discursive practices continue to exist within the determining lines of force of material relations, and the expropriation of nature, which is a very different question. Material conditions are the necessary but not sufficient condition of all historical practice. Of course, we need to think material conditions in their determinate discursive form, not as a fixed absolute. I think the discursive position is often in danger of losing its reference to material practice and historical conditions. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 747 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Economic determination acts by setting limits rather than predicting specific outcomes; Marx reaffirmed economic determination was universal across all epochs including feudal and antique ones; The core problem is reconciling economic determination with superstructural autonomy (+30 more)

Related

• Economic base sets limits but never fully determines historical outcomes (similarity 0.86)
• Marx defined the economic structure as objective conditions independent of human will (similarity 0.86)
• Material conditions condition but never fully determine historical practice. (similarity 0.85)
• Material conditions are necessary but not sufficient for all historical practice. (similarity 0.84)
• Marx reaffirmed economic determination was universal across all epochs including feudal and antique ones (similarity 0.84)
• The core problem is reconciling economic determination with superstructural autonomy (similarity 0.84)
• Marxism must hold determination in the last instance without falling into absolute autonomy (similarity 0.84)
• Marx’s mature thought held that economic determinacy persisted but was conceived differently (similarity 0.83)
• Historical materialism is fundamentally historicist, not metaphysical (similarity 0.83)
• Historical specificity distinguishes Marx’s materialism from vulgar or technological determinism (similarity 0.82)
• Marxism is not economic reductionism and requires attending to ideas in their own terms (similarity 0.81)
• Marx’s later development changed how production determines, not whether it does (similarity 0.81)
• Engels himself admitted that Marxism’s economic reductionism was partly his and Marx’s fault (similarity 0.81)
• Economic determinacy operates through overdetermination, not simple mechanical causation (similarity 0.80)
• Historical specificity, not mere materialism, defines Marx’s theory of culture (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features #corroborates (0.85)
• Material conditions are necessary but not sufficient for all historical practice. #corroborates (0.85) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 747
• Historical specificity distinguishes Marx’s materialism from vulgar or technological determinism #expands (0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 881
• Marxism is not economic reductionism and requires attending to ideas in their own terms #corroborates (0.80)
• A new Marxist paradigm seeks to overcome economism and reductionism #corroborates (0.75)
• Marxist theory requires holding both relative autonomy and economic determinacy at once #expands (0.70) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 371
• Marx defined the economic structure as objective conditions independent of human will #expands (0.60)
• Cultural studies rejects the base-superstructure model of economic determination #complicates (0.60)