Historical-materialist perspective associated with Marx and Engels
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx developed the concept of the historical materialism also known as the materialist conception of history. One of the main building blocks of this concept is the Hegel's argument that history arises from a dialectic/conflict of the contrasting forces in the society. According to Hegel's claim, the world that we live is a world of appearances, and the state of reality where an individual and the absolute are reunified defines the end of the story. To form a theory of historical materialism, Marx and Engels accepted the idea of dialectic but refuted the Hegel's notion of idealism because he rejected that material world blocks the individuals to see the ideal and real world. The theory purported that socially and historically ideologies hinders the individuals from seeing the material world clearly. In this case, Marx rejected the idealism and based his views on the materialism, which is the opposite of idealism.
The core claim of the historical materialists is that economic forces are the fundamental forces that allow individuals to encounter the history through the interaction of the social classes. This concept asserts that for the individuals to relate to the material world, economic interactions must be enforced. Conceptualization and thought do not change the material world, but rather the economics activities such as digging, and ploughing among others. In other words, an individual must labor for him to survive in the material world.
Through labor, the economic forces develop and consequently exposes an individual to an environment where they have more control. For instance, farmers were using animal-driven ploughs for farming. However, the economic forces have developed to replace animal-driven plough with a tractor, hence giving the farmer more control of the environment (2009). This portrays that people must be engaged in reactions and actions such as economic interaction and other spectrums that constitute the social development. The dialectic relationship between this reactions and actions defines the historical materialism.
Because of the expansion of economic forces, the social class struggles emerge. The concept of the historical materialism asserts that when the two classes involving the ruling and low starts to struggle or oppose each other, the struggles become intense until one class ultimately wins and emerge the new ruling class. Consequently, the new lower class is formed, and the process continues. Marx and Engels show the significance of the class struggle in the history by suggesting that the history of the existing history is derived from the history of the class struggles. Marx asserts that these classes are formed by the conflict between the productive relations and productive forces, which do not involve a dialectical contradiction. This contradiction only occurs between the lower and the ruling classes. Although there exists the conflict between the productive relations and productive force, it does not imply there is contradiction using the dialectical definition (2009).
Historical materialism is relevant to the modern world because it help to explain the outline and flow of the past. The past have shaped the future because productive forces have progressively evolved, and this evolution is accompanied by the shift in the outline of the society that appropriately suits the current productive forces. Today, the mode of production have changed from one to another through the history. Each mode of production is based on the previous mode, and hence show the significance of the history of developing new ways to enhance livelihood. The theory helps to explain how the historical changes occurs.
Weber's theory of the origins of modern Western capitalism
Weber's theory of the origins of modern Western capitalism provides the explanations for the development of the capitalism into the modern economic system. In this theory, Max Weber believes that beliefs and thoughts in the history, and especially the religion provided an important factor to determine the levels of wealth. He argues that the ideas from the religious groups such as Calvinists played a critical role in creating the spirit of capitalism. Weber focused on how the Protestant were involved in the business and believed that the religion is a potential predictor of the modern capitalism in the West.
As Weber was trying to comprehend the origin of the spirit of capitalism, he found Protestantism to offer a potential answer. In the Protestantism, he observed Calvinism explain the modern capitalism. The doctrine of predestination provided fertile grounds for the Puritan Morality among the Calvinists. Through this doctrine, the Calvinists believed that God has already decided their fate. Consequently, they valued materials and profits and believed that their possession is the favor of God. In this case, Calvinists viewed the world as a materialistic world, which later changed how they viewed the old economic system. Consequently, provided an effective contributing factor for the modern capitalism.
Weber's theory suggests that the emergence of the modern capitalism developed a particular ethic that connects moral righteousness with profit making. The Protestants both minority and majority, ruling and ruled classes were more superior to the Catholics to the extent that they had a particular and productive way to create economic rationalism. The difference was not only be sought in their external historical conditions but also their "permanent intrinsic character of their religious beliefs" (2009). Their approach was more focused on making profits than gaining the comfort. Therefore, the capitalism was based on the wealth creation through enhanced productivity and optimal utilization of resources.
Comparison between the historical materialism and the theory of the origin of modern capitalism indicates that Weber, Marx, and Engel had one thing in common. The three theorists attempted to analyses the economic system through a diachronic analysis. In other words, they seek their explanation in the economic system through a relationship between historical conditions and modern capitalism. Through the historical lens, Weber suggests that the cultural values and the religion of the Protestant in the 17th century accelerated the growth of the modern capitalism. Similarly, Marx and Engel analysis of the capitalism takes the historical stand. As expounded earlier, the modern man can be explained by the historical materialistic theory, which is based on the history of the class struggles.
However, the distinction between Weber's theory and Marx and Angel's theory can also be outlined from the historical perspective. While Weber illustrates that the culture accelerates economic conditions, Marx and Angel argues that the economic conditions establish themselves in culture and society. Therefore, the three theorists can be perceived as the advocators of the culturally- and economically-driven historical change. For Weber, ideas can be used to develop social change, but Marx and Angel view this to have an inverse causal relation. Marx and Angel argue that his interaction is because of the material conditions. While Weber suggests that the religion is contributing factor to social change, Marx argues that the change is necessarily about a status-quo-preserving force. However, the two theories agree that modern capitalism involves a rational process of wealth/capital accumulation, which is the fundamental reproductive elements of the capitalist system.
Weber's theory of capitalism's origins and general understanding of historical change
For the historical perspective, Weber's theory of the origin of capitalism is centered on the Calvinists' doctrine of predestination. In this sense, Weber argues that religion can be viewed as the contributing factor of the modern capitalism. However, he argues that the values of the Protestants were no longer necessary after the capitalism was developed. What is relevant to the modern economic activity is the spirit of capitalism. The doctrine of predestination, asceticism, methodical life, vocation, and individualism are integrated together to develop the fundamental capitalist ethic.
While Marx explains the capitalist class from the working class, Weber believes that the religion entails a functional value, and it is the key contributing factor for the development of capitalism. Religion clarifies the behavior and psychology of the individual capitalist, validate it, and assigns it to a positive morality. However, this factors that are explaining the development of the capitalist have lost their initial purpose and meaning by now.
Today, religious factors have been integrated into the system autonomously from the religious origins. This means that the ethic in the modern capitalist is becoming completely independent of their religious contest. However, the religion aspect in Weber's theory helps to explain the general understanding of the historical change. Capitalism excelled in the Europe and the United States because they had discovered the real spirit of capitalism. According to Weber, the actual spirit of capitalism is not based on the spending and consuming, but wealth creation through maximization of how we utilize resources.
Weber also refutes the historical materialistic view that the history of the existing history is derived from the history of the class struggles. Weber argues that class situation may result in the similar reactions of the individual that share it, but cannot result in revolution. In other words, the social class struggles do not lead to a change in the society. While historical materialist views use specific kind of dialectics, Weber utilizes the comparative historical method based on the spirit of capitalism and Protestant ethic.
However, Weber's theory is similar to the historical materialistic view because it contains the materialist view of religious organization and religion. Materials and profits were the primary things that motivated the Protestants because they believed that their possession is the favor of God. This materialistic view of the Protestants changed how they perceived their traditional economic system, and consequently developed ideal ideas that accelerated the modern capitalism.
Reference
Shimp, K. (2009). The Validity of Karl Marx’s Theory of Historical Materialism. Major Themes in Economics, 36.
