historical materialism

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noun

(in Marxist theory) the doctrine that all forms of social thought, as art or philosophy, and institutions, as the family or the state, develop as a superstructure founded on an economic base; that they reflect the character of economic relations and are altered or modified as a result of class struggles; that each ruling economic class produces the class that will destroy or replace it; and that dialectical necessity requires the eventual withering away of the state and the establishment of a classless society: the body of theory, in dialectical materialism, dealing with historical process and social causation.

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Compare economic determinism.

Origin of historical materialism

First recorded in 1920–25

Words nearby historical materialism

historical, historical-cost accounting, historical fiction, historical geology, historical linguistics, historical materialism, historical method, historical novel, historical present, historical school, historical sociology

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use historical materialism in a sentence

Historical justifications for most modern celebrations can be found in the ancient world.
New Year’s Eve, Babylon Style|Candida Moss|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hitchcock had the historical good fortune to have worked from silent films through television.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The central thrust of the sequence derives from historical fact.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If there was anyone who thought otherwise, he left no historical record.
Stonewall Jackson, VMI’s Most Embattled Professor|S. C. Gwynne|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

“Unlike Turkey or Egypt, we have no art-historical tradition,” he told The Telegraph in 2002.
The Mysterious Death of the Art World’s Favorite Sheikh|Lizzie Crocker|November 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And I finished all with a brief historical account of affairs and events in England for about a hundred years past.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
Eustache le Sueur died; one of the best French historical painters of his time.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
He distinguished himself by several military exploits, and wrote some valuable historical works.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Samuel Squire, bishop of St. David's died; a poetical, historical and antiquarian writer of note.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Paul de Rapin de Thoyras, an eminent French historical writer, died.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell

British Dictionary definitions for historical materialism

historical materialism

noun

the part of Marxist theory maintaining that social structures derive from economic structures and that these are transformed as a result of class struggles, each ruling class producing another, which will overcome and destroy it, the final phase being the emergence of a communist society

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012