Social Consciousness and Economics

[RedMaterialist]

Have modern Marxists been unable to establish that social consciousness develops through and is based on economic production?

[Asero]

What the hell are even asking? What do you mean by 'social consciousness', because no Marxist will ever state that social being in all of its forms is determined by the mode of production, but only upon how social being relates to class politics. And what do you mean by 'economic production'? It's not like there is "production" beyond "economic production". Do you mean the mode of production? Because if you mean the mode of production, no Marxist will ever state that the whole of political discourse is determined outright by the base economic structure, but mostly upon the so-called superstructure, which itself is assumed to be in part independent but still primarily determined by the base economic structure.

I'll assume you mean something along the lines of political consciousness for 'social consciousness', and the mode of production for 'economic production'.

The answer is 'No' because that's not what "modern Marxists" seek to "establish" in the place. A key concept within the materialist conception of history is that the view point of social classes is dependent upon its place within the structure of the totality of existing productive social relations (the mode of production and its ensuing politico-ideological superstructure) which it itself, class, as a relation of production, is an integral part. Political consciousness is not just dependent upon production proper itself, or even the forces of production in-of-itself without relating to how it conditions the relations of production, but a whole myriad of external factors, while focusing primarily upon the so-called superstructure of specific class societies.