Although these philosophers had theories and ideas on what consciousness was and how it worked Marxism and some Marxists theorists have argued that consciousness is determined by nothing more than the social economic aspects of an individual’s life.
Marxism is an economic and socio-political worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry which emerged from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which expressed and focused on the role of conflict in society. One of the main features of Marxism is the concept of a class conflict or a class struggle in which the owners of the means of production and the non-owners of the means of production are in constant conflict. The key concepts associated with Marxism include dialectic materialism, ideology, historical materialism, base and superstructure, class conflict, revolution and socialism. The main arguments from Marxist perspective are that economics is at the core of society and that progress is made through the constant struggle or conflict between the social classes. According to Marx there are two classes the bourgeoisie who are the owners of the means of production and the proletariat who are the non- owners of the means of production. According to Marx it is the proletariat who sell the labour to the bourgeoisie for a wage in order to make the production of goods. Marx believed that there is disequilibrium between the work that the proletariat do and the wage that they receive this is turn causes class conflict and alienation as the owners of means of production try to maximise the profits at the expense of the wages of the proletariat. Marxists believes that those will control over the means of production control influence and control the political and the cultural elements of society. They believe that the economy is at the root or base of society and that the ideologies, values, beliefs etc., are the superstructure. The superstructure is dictated by the owners of the means of production (Donnell, M).
Within society everything an individual does is based on their economic- social aspects of their life. The majority of the world has a capitalist culture and thus has a focus on the gain of individual wealth. Also the majority of the world; the west in particular i.e. America and Europe live in a very consumer based capitalist society so individuals are ranked and valued by their individual wealth. This can appear in many forms for example an individual will be valued by how much he earns at work and gain prestige based on this. There cannot be a relationship between an individual and the world he lives in without wealth. Marx and Marxists in general are strong supporters of this and believe that wealth is a key factor when examining society. Marxists believe that there is a base and superstructure in society and that the base consists of the economics and the superstructure being the ideas beliefs values and ideologies of the dominant class which is the owners of the means of production. Marx also comes up with the term Historical Materialism which can be used to explain consciousness in a social and economic manor. For Marx, the idea of materialism is the study of the real economic and social life of humans and of the influence of man’s actual way of life on this thinking and feeling. He states that humans in history are real and creative, who enter into definite necessary relations which are independent of their will Historical materialism is not the way that human beings gain money and have more material comfort neither the material desires to gain satisfaction. It is the way that human beings produce that determines their thinking and desires. He goes into more depth when discussing materialism stating that materialism is the material base of human activities it is the way humans live their lives; it includes thinking and ideology, politics, law, art etc. This can be used to explain Marx’s famous quote “that life is not determined by consciousness but rather consciousness by life”. Marx also states that a social element is required by humans and human beings cannot live without interaction and cannot be isolated from society as they will not reach these potentials isolated from society. This can be used to show that consciousness is determined by social elements. Foe Marx there is four part that humans need to create; there are four stages that Marx started that humans needed and will go through the first is a need to produce food; water; shelter etc. These are the basic needs to survive so this is seen as the first historical acts that humans will do when they produce these. Next when this is accomplished humans will then focus on creating new needs and producing the tools that will fulfil these new needs. The third step according to Marx was creating more life. This is where according to Marx that humans build their social relations as they get married and have children. And finally the fourth stage is where consciousness plays a role; this is where if the other stages are completed, human beings may further develop and process consciousness, which is considered the fourth aspect of the fundamental historical relationship. Consciousness is at first merely consciousness concerning the immediate sensuous environment and consciousness of the limited connection with other persons and things outside the individual who is growing self-conscious. It is from here the individual obtains social consciousness as they develop relationships within their society. As well as historical materialism Marx also developed his own concept of ideology. Marx concept of ideology comes from his writings in the German Ideology which was written two years before perhaps Marx’s most famous work Communist Manifesto. This work by Marx systematically and thoroughly criticized the Hegelian philosophies. The Hegelian philosophers focused on consciousness and abstract ideas, holding that they have independent existence which shapes social reality (hence the term "idealist philosophy"). According to this view, a change in social reality can be brought about through a change in the manner this reality is perceived. Marx on the other hand offered another position based on a materialistic approach in which he obtained other ideas based on material social economical and historical conditions. So for Carl Marx it is more reality creates the mind and it is not the other way around. Marx believed that all positions held by someone which could be religious, moral etc., are all a result of and are conditioned by their material circumstances. This is true, as Marx points elsewhere, to both historical circumstances and class, social and economic circumstances. The argument that consciousness is socially constructed was not a new concept at the time but changed it and made it the core and the foundation of his work. Marx draws heavily (and criticizes just as heavily) on the work of Feuerbach who claimed that religious faith is rooted in man's actual and material conditions, in man's perception of himself and in that god is but a projection of his earthly creators (Durkheim argued something similar in his notion of the "totemic principle"). However, this is not material enough for Marx who thinks that Feuerbach failed to bring into account specific social, economic and historical conditions which shape religious belief. Marx believed that Feuerbach work did not go far enough in his work he believed that people and their ideologies were conditioned by the powers of production and relations of production. This leads the Marxist idea and the distinction between the economic base and the superstructure. Marx believed that the superstructure was determined by the material base and not as the Idealised philosophers would have it. According to Marx the superstructure and the economic base were connected to ideology. Marx believed that ideology would mask that’s pulled over the economic base in order to conceal it and conceal the inherent injustices with it. Ideology convinces people that the current state of production is good, fair, justified or at least tries to keep them neutral in their opinion on it. Ideology has been famously referred to as false consciousness and that revolutions will come about when the veil of ideology is lifted and when people no longer have a false consciousness. Where Hegel and his followers say a change or shift in people’s consciousness Marx saw a change in human economic structures and saw a change in ideology (Barry, P) Apart from Marx another Marxist thinker who has contributed greatly to the idea of consciousness and ideology as being reliant on socio-economic aspects was Louis Althusser. Louis Althusser has come up with many theories regarding ideology throughout his life one of his theories regarding ideology was that ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence. The classical way of looking at Marxism influenced Marxists to show how ideologies are fake and false by pointing to the real world hidden under the veil of ideology for example the real economic base used by Marx when examining ideology. According to Althusser ideologies do not reflect the real world but instead shows the imaginary relationships on individuals to the real world. Ideology misrepresents itself as one remove from the real. In this Althusser follows the Lacanian belief that there is an imaginary order which is itself at one step removed from the Lacanian Real. So in other words individual are constantly within an ideology because of an individual’s dependence on language to establish their reality. Different ideologies are then just different appearances of the same imaginary reality and do not represent the real one itself. Another concept of Althusser is the idea that ideology has a material existence (Lenin 112). Althusser contends that ideology has a material existence because an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices" (Lenin 112). Ideology always manifests itself through actions, which are "inserted into practices" (Lenin 114), for example, rituals, conventional behaviour, and so on. Indeed, Althusser goes so far as to adopt Pascal's formula for belief: Pascal says more or less: Kneel down, move your lips in prayer, and you will believe (Lenin 114). It is our performance of our relation to others and to social institutions that continually instantiates us as subjects. Judith Butler's understanding of performativity could be said to be strongly influenced by this way of thinking about ideology. There is also a concept that Althusser uses in which he state that all individuals are always-already subjects. In this statement it’s clear that Althusser believes that an individual is already a subject even before birth. He uses this explanation to justify his statement “even before the child is born, it is certain in advance that it will bear its Father's Name, and will therefore have an identity and be irreplaceable. Before its birth, the child is therefore always-already a subject, appointed as a subject in and by the specific familial ideological configuration in which it is 'expected' once it has been conceived” (Lenin 119)
As can been seen from the above paragraphs Marxist theory argues that consciousness is determined by more socio-economics aspects rather than by existence. This essay has shown that Marx and Marxism in general have a very complete argument when arguing that consciousness is more than just the concept of existence. It has to take into account other elements such as the social, economic as well as other elements. So to conclude the title of this essay was is our consciousness determined by existence or by that or socio-economic aspects of our life this essay has shown that it is the socio-economic aspects that determine our existence.
Bibliography
Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review P, 2001.
the freedictionary.com. (2012). Consciousness. Available: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consciousness. Last accessed 5th May 2012
history-world.org. (). LOCKE, John (1632-1704).. Available: http://history-world.org/locke.htm. Last accessed 5th May 2012
Donnell,M (1997). Introduction to Sociology . 4th ed. Walton on Thames: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
Barry,P (2009). Beginning Theory . 3rd ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
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