Tuesday, July 26, 2005

In Search for Meaning


1. Marx : Superstructures (law, cultural institutions, religion, schools and literature) directly reflect the base ( production) (that is controlled by the dominant class – bourgeois). Therefore;
2. The base is superior to the superstructures; any change in the base is paralleled by a change in the superstructures. (the relation is economic)
3. Gramsci: the relation is not economic but hegemonic-the dominant class ( the base- Bourgeois) establishes and maintains hegemony over other classes by virtue of its organic intellectuals or by force when consent fails. Therefore;
4. What is the use of literature (part of the superstructures) if it propagates the ideas of the dominant class?
5. Allthusser: (The relation is ideological) Superstructures (Ideological State Apparatuses ) reproduces the relations of production (base). This means
6. The superstructure can and does influence the base . (the opposite of Marx and answers my question about Gramsci WHY DO THEY WRITE LITERATURE?)
7. In other words literature and superstructures influence the base not the opposite.

PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM MISTAKEN

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