Base-Superstructure relationship

As Andrew Vincent remarks, Marxian theory tends towards political economy and treats the economic activity as the primary concern. The rest of the human activity is taken as part of epiphenomenona or result of certain antecedent conditions.⁸⁹ Accordingly, central to the Marxian understanding of society is the differentiation between infrastructure or base and superstructure. Marxian theory gives primacy to the economic structure of society, which consists of forces and relations of production. Forces of production imply the capacity of the society to produce and may include organization of human labour, scientific and technical knowledge, technological equipments and forces, etc. Relations of production arising out of the productive processes, imply relations in ownership of means of production. For Marx, it is the ‘infrastructure’ or the ‘base’, consisting of forces of production and relations of production, that determines all other aspects of society. These, all other aspects of society, constitute the ‘superstructure’ and include political and legal, social and cultural, religious and philosophical and ideological aspects and are determined by what happens to the infrastructure.

It is generally agreed that the State belongs to the superstructure. The State acts as an instrument to serve the interests of the dominant class and its ideology. This is the core of the Marxian understanding of relationship between the economic structure of society and other aspects of life. This perspective subscribes to the executive committee view of the State and treats the State as a complete reflection of the dominant interests of bourgeois class. Engels and Lenin followed this line.

However, the relative autonomy view argues that the State is relative autonomous from the base and could even be utilized for achieving the revolutionary goal. Poulantzas, Gramsci and Althusser give their reinterpretation of the role of the State based on the this latter formulation. Gramsci’s conception of hegemony and Althusser’s overdetermination, seek relevance of Marxian theory in the arena of superstructure.