historical materialism

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English

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Etymology

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Coined in English by Friedrich Engels in the 1892 "Introduction to the English Edition"[1][2] to his 1880 booklet Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Noun

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historical materialism (uncountable)

  1. (Marxism) A methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, looking for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans collectively produce the necessities of life.
    • 1892, Friedrich Engels, “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific”, in Marxists Internet Archive, 1892 English Edition Introduction (General Introduction and the History of Materialism):
      And, thus, I hope even British respectability will not be overshocked if I use, in English as well as in so many other languages, the term "historical materialism", to designate that view of the course of history which seeks the ultimate cause and the great moving power of all important historic events in the economic development of society, in the changes in the modes of production and exchange, in the consequent division of society into distinct classes, and in the struggles of these classes against one another.

Antonyms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “Preface”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 27, 1990, published 2010, page xxv
  2. ^ Friedrich Engels (1990) [1892] “Introduction to the English Edition (1892) of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 27, published 2010, pages 283, 289