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... > social science subjects > psychology > social psychology > group dynamics > group influence > power (sociology) > power and social theory > substructure and superstructure

Preferred term

substructure and superstructure  

Definition

  • The distinction between substructure (or base) and superstructure is central to the work of Karl Marx (1818–1883), particularly to his theory of historical materialism. The key claim, formulated most extensively in The German Ideology (1845), is that society's substructure (for Marx the economic infrastructure) holds deterministic supremacy over all other noneconomic elements, the superstructure. [Source: Encyclopedia of Power; Substructure And Superstructure]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/substructure_and_superstructure

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