BASE and
SUPERSTRUCTURE
Prepared by: Anwirah T. Hadji Amer
SUPERSTRUCTURE:
Legal and political systems and ideologies
(Politics, culture, law, education, culture, beliefs,
values)
BASE:
Economic structure (means of production, labor
relations, forces of production)
KARL MARX:
German Philosopher, economist, sociologist,
historian, and revolutionary socialist
FRIEDIRCH ENGELS:
German philosopher, social scientist, and
political theorist
Born on November 28, 1820, in Barmen,
Prussia and died on August 5, 1895
a
Born on May 5, 1818, in Trier Germany and
died on March 14, 1883
.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
o Materialism vs. Idealism
o Class struggles: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
o Alienation
o Critique of ideology
.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
 Historical Materialism
 Critique of capitalism
 Call for revolution
 Vision of communism
.
Karl Marx
 Materialist Conception of history
 Economic base-superstructure
 Modes of production
 Value and Commodity Fetishism
STRUCTURALISM
It focuses on understanding the
underlying structures that shape
various phenomena, such as language,
culture, and social systems.
CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS:
French anthropologist often regarded as the
founder of structural anthropology.
Born on November 28, 1908 at Brussels, Belgium
Died on October 30, 2009 at Paris, France
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE:
Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation
for many development in linguistics.
Born on November 26, 1857 at Geneva Switzerland
Died on February 22, 1913 at Vufflens-le-Chateau,
Switzerland.
.
Ferdinand de Saussure
 Focused on structure of language
 Arbitrariness of meaning
 Binary opposition
 Focused on how words related to
each other
Claude Levi-Strauss
 Applied this structural approach to
broader framework
 He also believe that cultural
meanings are also not fixed
 Expanded the idea
 He looked for patterns in myths
and social practices
.
 Language as a system of signs
Sign (Signifier and Signified)
 Arbitrariness of sign
 Langue and Parole
 Binary opposition
.