ANTHRO 3AC Study Guide - Final Guide: Scientific Socialism, Dialectical Materialism, For Marx
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• Marx believed that ending class conflict, and having the lower
class overthrow the upper class would be the end of history,
• Thus, for Marx, the end of history is communism (or scientific
socialism)
• This is where human societies are heading towards, starting
from a primitive socialist system to the feudal system to
capitalism then finally to communism (or scientific socialism).
• This is because he sees the dialectic as working from “outside-
in,” (material/external forces) starting with the understanding
that people must eat (i.e. starting with the material needs of
people).
o Weber:
• Weber is of the opinion that there is no end of history.
• Rather, there is just a continuation of things that happen
• Therefore, history is neither dialectal nor teleological
• He was critical of monumental history.
• Expert truths could limit and control one no less than lies.
• There is no mode of action that is free from consideration of
power and authority
7. Turning Hegel Upside Down
o Marx believed that Hegel got the dialectic backwards.
o According to Marx, we should not deal with ideas as they encounter
the real world, but with the real material world itself.
o This is what he means by turning Hegel upside down.
o Marx’s ideas gained influence and led to the Bolshevik Revolution
and the creation of the Soviet Union.
o Dialectical Materialism emerged that redefined the dialectic not as
Thesis/Antithesis/Synthesis but as Class Struggle and Revolution:
