Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Foundations (Page 1 of 2)

These four posts are the political and intellectual foundations upon which the blog Base and Superstructure rests. We all have a point from which we’re starting. These posts lay out mine. I chose these posts carefully and placed them at the very beginning of the blog. I make frequent reference to these posts later, and so I set them aside as a quick reference tool. One foundational topic is Marxist social analysis, especially the base and superstructure vision of society. Another is the basic definitions of identity politics and identitarianism. There’s a discussion of basic principles of how to conduct successful activist movements. Finally, there are some general thoughts about class, class politics, and the relationship between class interests and socioeconomic status.

lexicon base and superstructure

A Base and Superstructure Blog Lexicon

January 16, 2023 /

In over 4 years of blogging, I’ve discussed lots of terminology, especially leftist terminology. I try to use terms in a consistent way that people within leftist debates understand.

However, like all analytic philosophers, I occasionally see the need to clarify terms. Some terms stand in need of tidying. Some of them a lot of it. Every now and then, I provide new (and hopefully better!) definitions for familiar terms. And at other times, I use more obscure terms, repurpose terms for new uses, or just create new ones.

And so, I find a need for a blog lexicon! I’ll use this post as an opportunity to collect lots of these terms in the same place. As a bonus, if I introduce additional terms in the future, I can add them to the lexicon.

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capitalism socialism dice transition trough social democracy

Social Democracy to Socialism: The Transition Trough

March 30, 2020 /

As leftists, we have a short term agenda: Medicare for All and other social democratic programs to meet basic needs, tenants unions to fight landlords, et al. But we don’t yet know how to get from there to full socialism – a democratic system of ownership and control over economic resources. While the topic has gotten long overdue attention on the left recently – see, for example Bhaskar Sunkara’s book The Socialist Manifesto – major issues remain. One of these issues is the ‘transition trough.’

Let’s talk about that.

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Class Reductionism: What is it, and is it Bad?

January 2, 2020 /

class reductionism karl marx factory

Lots of people talk about class reductionism. Most people seem to agree it’s a bad thing, and that some other group of people does it. But few people talk about what ‘class reductionism’ means. It’s simply assumed or unstated. I, on the other hand, find the term extremely unclear. And unclear in both its parts. That is to say I think it’s unclear what ‘class’ means and what it means to reduce something to it.

What we have, then, is a useful project for an analytic philosopher. What does ‘class reductionism’ mean? Is it a political or explanatory project of some kind? What’s it all about? Some thoughts on that…

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class-identitarianism identity

Is Class an Identity? On Class-Identitarianism

April 29, 2019 /

Lots of people now think about class in terms of identity. But this is a peculiarly modern idea. We find it in terms like ‘Nascar Dads’. And we find it in weird, quasi-ideological attachments to Carhartt products. We might call the politics of class-as-identity ‘class-identitarianism.’ It’s an ugly term, but let’s not shy away from ugly. At least not yet.

I’m working on answering two questions in this post. First, is class an identity? And, if it is, does class-identitarianism offer an explanatory framework that helps us make sense of the world and/or formulate a better political path?

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Icebreaker Speech

August 1, 2018 /

This post is a speech I gave about a year ago as a part of a local Toastmasters group. It’s an introduction to, well, myself. They call it an Icebreaker speech.

For anyone unfamiliar, Toastmasters is an organization for developing and promoting public speaking skills. The first speech you give as a part of the organization is an ‘Icebreaker,’ or an introduction of yourself to the group.

I’ve made some light edits to the icebreaker speech. This includes light copy editing, updating of dates (the speech is about a year old), and minor tinkering to fit the change from spoken to written format.

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