Critical Theories: Marxist and
Materialist Theory
Background for Marxist/Materialist
Theory
• Marxist and Materialist Criticism apply ideas from sociology,
political science and economics to the study of literature.
• Marxist Criticism draws on the writings of Karl Marx, (18181883) who was highly critical of the capitalist system and
concerned about the ways in which governments and
businesses that control the means of production (factories,
etc.) exert control over the working classes.
• Materialists, like Marxists, are concerned with the “material
conditions” that affect the lives of characters, authors, and
readers. What makes Materialists different from Marxists is
that they do not draw specifically from Marx’s ideas.
• Both are concerned with issues of class conflict, wealth, work,
and the various ideologies that surround these things. (An
ideology is a group of ideals/values and ideas, especially one
that forms the basis of a political of economic system.)
Key Terms for Marxist and
Materialist Theory
• Material Conditions: “those components of daily life related
directly to one’s economic existence, such as housing, work
environment, and access to education and health care” (Hall
74)
• Ideology: “those belief systems that underlie our actions
and material lives, beliefs that are rarely reflected on and
that structure our world in ways that produce and reproduce
social relationships” (Hall 74-75).
• Hegemony: “a system of interlocked institutions, practices,
worldviews, expectations hopes, and fears, as well as
specific ideologies, that makes the status quo and the
stratification of power and economic resources within that
status quo seem natural and unchallengeable” (Hall 78).
• For a more complete list of Marxist terminology, go here:
http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/marxism/terms/
Key Terms for Marxist and
Materialist Theory
• Bourgeoisie: (It’s pronounced bor-zhwa-zee.) The “Middle Class,”
with the connotation of a class that has embraced the materialistic
conventional economic and social values. (This is the noun. The
adjective that you would use to describe someone is “bourgeois.”)
• Proletariat: The “Working Class.” Those whose labor produces the
goods and services that create disproportionate profits for the Upper
Class and the Bourgeoisie.
• Commodity: "external object, a thing which through its qualities
satisfies human needs of whatever kind" (Marx, Capital). So any
object that is produced and then sold is a commodity. Marx and
Marxist/Materialist critics also often refer the labor sold by the
proletariat as a commodity as well.
• Means of Production: The structures, materials, machinery, etc.
needed to produce goods.
• Class Awareness: A person’s consciousness of him/herself as a
member of a specific class.
Questions Marxist/Materialist
Critics Ask:
• How do issues of social class and economic
status affect the characters and events in this
work?
• Are characters aware of the economic and
political forces that are acting on them? If they
are unaware, what are the forces that keep them
ignorant, and what are the consequences of this
ignorance?
• What ideological assumptions about class, work,
and economic status does this work make?
• In what ways does this work either challenge or
support the class or political structures it
describes?