a correspondent asked:
The base-superstructure model has been much critisized. Do you think
that it is a useful perspective for some purposes?
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I think of the B/S model as being useful when not abused. The abuse
involves reductionism.
For me, the base is the same as the mode of
production (the dialectic of the forces and relations of production).
The superstructure, on the other hand, refers to the political, legal,
ideological, etc. dimensions of society that can't be seen as the same
as the same as the mode of production.
Reductionism here means trying to explain everything in the
superstructure by reference to the base. It's silly. The superstructure
is "relatively autonomous" from the base, so that it doesn't reflect the
base completely. For example, the US political system is partly the
result of events more than 200 years ago (the US constitution and the
like) when capitalism hadn't been fully established. Politics in the US
involves a bicameral legislature (with states with small populations
being overrepresented) and the division between the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches. A lot of this has been corrupted,
but there are major aspects that do not reflect the current dynamics of
capitalism. Further, there's a stratum of professional politicians who
do not follow simple capitalist rules but instead the rules of the
political system -- and thus reproduce the political system over time.
The political system also determines a lot of what happens in the base.
For example, the US economy dedicates a lot of resources to the
military, partly for purely political reasons (and partly for economic
reasons -- it's overdetermined).
Because they have different dynamics, the political system and the mode
of production develop unevenly and sometimes come into conflict. The US
political system doesn't seem to fit the 21st century economy. This
causes problems, on both the political and economic levels.
because of the relative internal stability of the mode of production in
most cases, a conflict between the mode of production and the political
system often resolves itself in favor of the former: the political
system is forced to adapt.
Of course, if the mode of production itself is in crisis -- especially
if there's a strong movement of the dominated classes -- the political
system might win. But that doesn't guarantee that the dominated classes
will win.
This is sketchy, but I hope it helps.
Jim Devine
