Quote: "In this thinking of the structure of societies, literary texts are one register of the superstructure, which is determined by the economic base of any given society."
A literary theory that examines the social and economic context in which a text was produced and the ways in which it reflects or challenges class relations.
Historical materialism: The theory that economic and societal structures determine cultural and literary production.
Dialectical materialism: The idea that all social phenomena is made up of opposing forces that interact to create change.
Class relations: The concept of social classes and their roles in shaping society, with a focus on the proletariat and bourgeoisie.
Alienation: The idea that individuals in capitalist societies are separated from their work, their products, and each other, leading to dissatisfaction and dehumanization.
Ideology: The dominant ideas and beliefs of a society that shape culture and uphold the status quo.
Hegemony: The ways in which dominant groups maintain power and control over subordinate groups.
Base and superstructure: The economic and social systems that create the conditions for cultural and literary production, and the cultural and literary forms and ideologies that maintain and reproduce the system.
Literary form: The analysis of literary genres and forms in relation to their sociopolitical context and the ways in which they shape and are shaped by that context.
Social realism: The literary movement that strives to accurately represent social realities and highlight the struggles and conditions of the working class.
Marxist feminism: The analysis of gender relations through a Marxist lens, emphasizing the ways in which patriarchy and capitalism intersect to shape women's experiences.
Race and imperialism: The analysis of race and colonization through a Marxist lens, highlighting the ways in which imperialism is a tool of capitalist expansion and exploitation.
Literary history: The study of the history of literature and its relationship to social and economic developments.
Marxist Literary Theory: It is a broad approach to analyzing literature from a Marxist perspective. The primary focus is on the examination of the social and economic influences that shape literary works.
Materialist Criticism: This type of Marxist criticism looks at the authors’ economic and social position, the production of the literary text, and its circulation in society.
Marxist Feminist Literary Theory: This theory seeks to unite Marxist and feminist approaches to literature by analyzing the representation of gender, sexuality, and class in literary works.
New Historicist Criticism: It is a form of Marxist criticism that considers literature within the larger cultural, historical, and political contexts of its creation.
Marxist Psychoanalysis: This type of Marxist criticism seeks to apply psychoanalytic theory to literary works, exploring the ways in which unconscious desires, motives, and anxieties may be reflected in them.
Marxist Literary Criticism of the Frankfurt School: This theory looks at how capitalism shapes culture and explores the ways that art can be part of a larger social revolution.
Postcolonial Marxist criticism: It looks at the impact of colonialism on literature and the cultural and economic effects of this history on contemporary society.
Marxist Ecocriticism: This type of Marxist criticism examines the relationship between literature, the natural world, and environmental concerns from Marxist principles.
Cultural Marxist theory: It is a theory of cultural analysis that applies Marxist critiques to culture, analyzing power relations and ideology in cultural forms such as popular culture, advertising, media, and art.
Quote: "Most Marxist critics who were writing in what could chronologically be specified as the early period of Marxist literary criticism, subscribed to what has come to be called 'vulgar Marxism.'"
Quote: "Literary texts are a reflection of the economic base rather than 'the social institutions from which they originate.'"
Quote: "Even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author."
Quote: "Marxist criticism is not merely a 'sociology of literature', concerned with how novels get published and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully."
Quote: "Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully; and this means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles and meanings."
Quote: "...those forms, styles, and meanings as the product of a particular history."
Quote: "In Marxist criticism, class struggle and relations of production are the central instruments in analysis."
Quote: "For all social institutions, or more precisely human–social relationships, are in the final analysis determined by the economic base."
Quote: "Literary texts are a reflection of the economic base"
Quote: "Most Marxist critics who were writing in what could chronologically be specified as the early period of Marxist literary criticism, subscribed to what has come to be called 'vulgar Marxism.'"
Quote: "Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully."
Quote: "Even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function."
Quote: "Grasping those forms, styles, and meanings as the product of a particular history."
Quote: "Sensitive attention to its forms, styles, and meanings."
Quote: "Human-social relationships are in the final analysis determined by the economic base."
Quote: "Class struggle and relations of production are the central instruments in analysis."
Quote: "Based on the background and ideology of the author."
Quote: "To explain the literary work more fully"
Quote: "Literary texts are a reflection of the economic base rather than 'the social institutions from which they originate.'"