Marx's Account of the Relationship Between Technological and Political Change

Marx's Account of the Relationship Between Technological and Political Change

"The windmill will give you a society with the feudal lord, the steam

mill a society with the industrial capitalist.[1]" This quote, from

Marx’s Poverty of Philosophy, shows us that there is a link in Marx’s

writing between technological change, or the methods of production,

and political change, or the structure of society. One of the most

important concepts used by Marx to show this relationship is his idea

of ‘historical materialism’ and all forms of change must be set in the

context of this version of history.

‘Historical materialism’ is a method which accounts for the

developments and changes in human history according to economic and

more broadly, material development. Each society is built on material

economic forces which set up the base for socio-political

institutions. Indeed, Marx is often thought of as an economist rather

than a political thinker, precisely because of his detailed economic

analysis of ‘epochs’ (or periods) in history, especially the

capitalist epoch in his multi-volumed Capital.

Historical materialism guides us through the periods that Marx (and

Engels) divide history into. Predominantly, these ideas must be taken

in context of the period that Marx was writing in; at the end of the

eighteenth century, a great transformation in European (especially

British) society was taking place and economic changes were central to

the transformation that the Industrial Revolution produced in terms of

social order. Marx uses two key terms to help illustrate historical

materialism, and its link between technological and political change.

...

... middle of paper ...

...hnological change ‘delinked’ itself from

political change. The next major technological step after Marx’s

writing was the move from a manufacturing-based economy to a more

service-based one where Marx’s theory of ‘alienation’ of workers could

no longer be as easily applied. This technological change was not

accompanied by any significant political change, and so the link

between the two cannot be said to be fundamental to human history.

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[1] Marx, Poverty of Philosophy

[2] Levine, Engaging Political Philosophy

[3] Marx, Capital

[4] Levine, Engaging Political Philosophy

[5] Marx, Early Writings

[6] Lenin, Materials Relating to the Revision of the Party Program

[7] Plamenatz, Man and Society

[8] Plamenatz, Man and Society