Summary Of "Historical Materialism" By Hughes & Tacca - UNIVERSITY SUMMARIES - E-book - ePub

We have summarized here the essential of this book by the author. HISTORICAL MATERIALISMIntroductionWhile the positivism of Comte and Spencer appeared, in the mid-nineteenth century, linked to the interests of those who sought to preserve the already consolidated capitalist social order, a THEORY was simultaneously developed that would exert a solid influence on the social sciences, LINKED TO THE STRUGGLES, CULTURE AND POLITICS OF THE WORKING CLASS.
Although no one denies the influence that Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Frederick Engels (1820-1895) had on contemporary history, it is more difficult to accept that it has been the debate (explicit or implicit) against their postulates that has developed a large part of the social theory of the last 150 years (1998 marked the sesquicentennial of the Communist Manifesto, written by both in 1848). The social weight of Marxism transcends its theoretical influence, to the point that ITS PRINCIPLES WERE MADE THEIR OWN BY MILLIONS OF EMPLOYEES ALL OVER THE WORLD, MOTIVATED SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS that decisively marked the events of the century that is ending AND IT STILL LIVES, BECAUSE EXPLOITATION AND ALIENATION SURVIVAL AND THE UNHAPPINESS THAT KNEW HOW TO ANALYZE AND DENOUNCE, INHERENT IN THE CAPITALIST PRODUCTION MODE today, finally, throughout the entire planet.