So, occasionally people ask me about the blog’s name (Base and Superstructure). Sometimes they’re just curious. At other times, they know a bit about Marxism and think the name might indicate that I’m some kind of ‘class reductionist‘ (by which they might mean any number of things).
I’ve written about this topic a number of times. Including the very first post back in 2018. In fact, it’s a frequent topic I return to from a variety of angles. But I’d also like to write a short version of a more complicated set of ideas.
Here’s the short version: The term ‘class‘ refers to relationships among different groups of people. These relationships concern which groups own and control economic resources. When trying to best explain society, class relations form the most fundamental explanatory unit. Other things, like religion, culture, identity, and so on, are an important part of our lives and an important social force. They’re also important to our efforts to create and maintain socialist movements. But class is typically where the buck stops.
That’s what the blog name means to me. And while it might make me a ‘class reductionist’ in some narrow explanatory sense, I certainly think there are things other than class that are very important to politics and movements.
