Material production of life, not ideas, is the real ground of history.

Evidence

This conception of history, therefore, rests on the exposition of the real process of production, starting out from the simple material production of life and on the comprehension of the form of intercourse connected with and—created by this mode of production, i.e. of civil society in its various stages as the basis of all history, and also in its action as the State. From this starting point, it explains all the different theoretical productions and forms of consciousness, religion, philosophy, ethics, etc., and traces their origins and growth, by which means the matter can of course be displayed as a whole (and consequently, also the reciprocal action of these various sides on one another). — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 482

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core historical-materialist thesis in Marx’s own words — the base/superstructure view Hall will dissect.
• XREF: connects to: Material conditions do not mechanistically determine history; social development shapes material life. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1264; Historical materialism inherits and historicizes idealism’s claim that reality is a human creation — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1570; Human society is a historical reality that appropriates nature rather than submitting to it — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 142 (+7 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Material conditions do not mechanistically determine history; social development shapes material life. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1264; Historical materialism inherits and historicizes idealism’s claim that reality is a human creation — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1570; Human society is a historical reality that appropriates nature rather than submitting to it — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 142 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Material conditions do not mechanistically determine history; social development shapes material life. #complicates (0.78) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1264
• Belief in a better future can be as real as material work. #complicates (0.72) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1215
• Culture is a process of creating and transforming reality, not an environment. #complicates (0.71) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 323