CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

WRITTEN BY YOBE THOMPSON

STUDENT ID NUMBER: R1608D1766727

TASK: AN ESSAY “LANDSCAPE AS A COMMODITY AND

CRITICALLY APPLY KARL MARX HISTOLICAL
MATERIALISM”
Introduction

The Marxist theory known as historical materialism was first put forth by Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels. According to Bukharin, N. (2013) “the Karl Marx's
historical materialism theory of human society and history, ideas and social
structures only emerge as a superstructure built on an economic foundation”. It has
been observed that In order to understand human interaction and the changes that
human civilization has through, it is essential to trace the history from the point of
human evolution from a scientific standpoint. To do this, a social structure
community must learn historical materialism and its core ideas.

This essay examines the concept of "Landscape as a Commodity" by applying Karl

Marx's historical materialism. The essential objective is to critically demonstrate
how the key Historical Materialist ideas operate in my community (for instance,
how ideologies operate, how local spaces are transformed for capitalist
development, and how these transformations and ideologies operate on the local
community as a whole) (people).

Generally speaking, historical materialism is the integration of several Marx's

earlier ideas into a cogent theory of social history. This viewpoint contends that the
basis of human existence is the material world. Since there have been material
causes that have resulted in such economic differences, class strife has been a
major issue throughout human history. Additionally, history is created in a variety
of ways. A mode of production is a certain allocation of resources and labor that
drives an economic system.

Marx's historical materialism thesis seeks to explain human history and progress
by focusing on the material foundations of all humankind. Marx regarded labor-
based production as the pinnacle of human achievement. Marx claims it is possible
to provide a materialistic description of how individuals alter the universe by
utilizing "forces of production," but also reform themselves in the process by
partaking in "relations of production" with one another through stressing labor-
based production. Marx stressed that “all historical change and progress is driven
by the productive activity of humans and the interaction that results between the
forces and relations of production”.

To begin with, the focus of Marx's writings must be on his specific goal for
humanity if one wishes to understand the core of his ideas. As important to
understanding Marx as Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto are, this is as
well. Marx begins his explanation of human materialistic with human needs. In his
Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he wrote, "Man." Which he narrates as “the first
natural being. As a natural being and a living natural being, he is endowed on the
one hand with natural powers, vital powers…; these powers exist in him as
aptitudes, instincts. On the other hand, as an objective, natural, physical, sensitive
being, he is a suffering, dependent and limited being…, that is, the objects of his
instincts exist outside him, independent of him, but are the objects of his need,
indispensable and essential for the realization and confirmation of his substantial
powers”.

Thus, the genesis of human history may be traced back to living people and their
pursuit of a few fundamental desires. The first historical fact is the development of
the tools needed to fulfill these objectives. Other wants can subsequently be met
because of this fulfillment. Since nature must provide the means to satisfy human
needs, such as those for drink, food, and clothes, as well as the expansion of human
forces and later the development of human intellect and artistic genius, human
activity is therefore inherently at odds with nature. Members of the society gain
knowledge about themselves as productive people who develop themselves via
work through this endeavor.

Additionally, as they become more like themselves, members of my society

humanize nature. Through their labor and creative pursuits, people realize their
identity with the nature they control and simultaneously acquire free will. They are
natural creatures who transcend nature to fully attain humanity. By being aware of
what separates them from nature in their struggle against it, they learn the
conditions for their fulfillment and the acknowledgment of their true size.

Conflict and the emergence of consciousness go hand in hand. They discover that
everything referred to as history is really just the process of creating man via
human effort, the transformation of nature into man, and making the most of all
human creativity. Man has thus offered strong and obvious proof of his own self-
creation. When observed in its larger, global perspective, human activity shows
that "for man, man is the highest entity. Therefore, discussing God, the universe,
and metaphysical subjects is useless. On this, Shimp, K. (2009) asserted that
humans are self-sufficient when fully naturalized because they have reclaimed the
entirety of humanity in its unrestricted liberty.

However, the person is not completely free when they live in a capitalist society
like ours. He is an outcast who does not belong in his environment. Marx borrows
the concept of alienation from Ludwig Feuerbach and Hegel, and it is a basic
theme that runs through all of his publications, from his early essays to Das
Kapital. The economic and philosophic Manuscripts argued that “the alienation of
labor results from the fact that as a worker produces more, he has less money to
spend and as he creates more values, the less value he places on himself because
his labor and product are separate from him”.
Since the worker's survival in this space is dependent on things, he has made but
which are not his, he loses his proper existence in this world of things which are
not himself: no job, no income. Labor is denied the whole of concrete humanity in
these circumstances. "The natural and intellectual powers of man, as well as his
generic being are changed into an alien being, into a means of his individual
existence." He starts to feel alien to nature, his body, and his spiritual soul. "Man is
alienated from man," When developed to its fullest extent, private property turns
into "the result of alienated labor...

Starting with The German Ideology and continuing through Das Kapital, the
historical materialism, social, and economic reasons of the alienation of labor are
emphasized more and more, despite the lack of proof that Marx ever denied this
anthropological interpretation of alienated labor. According to Croce, B. (1914),
“alienated labor is viewed as the result of market product, labor division, and the
separation of society into rival classes”. Workers are the only producers in society
who create goods via their labor. These goods are returnable. Their value is based
on the average amount of social labor that went into making them.

A worker's alienation reaches its maximum potential when a portion of the value of
the goods he produces in a society is taken from him and transformed into surplus
value, which the capitalist subsequently appropriates personally. Market
production further fosters the alienation of labor by encouraging specialization,
piecework, and the formation of large enterprises. The worker's labor is
consequently mixed with the labor of others in a way that has effects on him or
her personally and socially. Together with this underlying economic alienation,
there are secondary political and ideological alienations that present a misleading
picture of and an incorrect explanation for a society where interpersonal
connections are also harmed. People in the society have developed ideas that are
directly tied to their actual interactions and activities.

According to Marx, ideological alienation manifests itself in various ways in

economic, philosophical, and legal systems. In Das Kapital and The German
Ideology, respectively, Marx engaged in a thorough examination of the first and
the second. But religion is where ideological estrangement manifests itself most
strongly. Marx adopted the views on religion that were popular in left-leaning post-
Hegelian groups and combined them with Feuerbach's ideas to get to the
conclusion that religion is a creation of human consciousness. The position of
someone who "either has not conquered himself or has already lost himself again"
is reflected in it. Marx, in contrast to Feuerbach, thought that religion would only
vanish with societal reforms.

At various stages in his career, Karl Marx makes several claims about ideology;
however, his most plain claim about ideology is found in The German Ideology,
which he co-wrote with Frederick Engels. Ideology, which includes things like
"politics, legislation, morals, religion, philosophy, etc.," is the "creation of ideas, of
conceptions, of awareness" that "man say, think, conceive." The superstructure of a
civilization, or ideology, is comprised of the norms and culture that make up the
dominant ideologies in a society.

There is a lot of political discussion in my society which in turn brings an outrage

for the outcome of these transformations and the workings of ideology for the local
community. On a very basic level, the majority of people in the society are
political philosophers. In a democratic society like ours, citizens are expected to
have opinions on a wide range of issues that either directly influence their lives as
individuals or the lives of all citizens. Even at a basic, unsophisticated level, the
majority of people have opinions on a variety of subjects, including the "correct"
form of government, freedom, equality, and equal rights; the "proper" role of
government in society; how "democratic" one's own political system is; the proper
levels of public spending; and other issues. The way they view these and many
other topics is often shaped by their ideological notions, which are the product of
their social indoctrination, life experiences, and reflections on those experiences.

Our society is exposed to ideological ideas through a range of institutions, such as

families, workplaces, friends, the media, political parties, and other social and
political organizations. The family plays a significant role in educating new
citizens about the underlying ideologies of their society. Power relationships exist
between men and women, parents and children, all of whom are influenced by
ideological concepts and frequently act on them without giving them any attention.
A child's first contact with social authority and the beliefs it absorbs occurs in the
context of the family, very practically with their mother's milk.

Most of the population is unaware of the connection between these ideologies and
power structures since politicians are driven by a desire for power. It relies on their
ideology and the social, economic, and political climate of the period as to what
they do with such power once they have it. In actuality, the two cannot be
distinguished. Everyone, including those who deny having an ideology, must
concur with this. Every exercise of power has an ideological foundation. Modern
politics can only be grasped successfully by referring to the key ideologies that
have influenced it, such as liberalism, socialism, fascism, and conservatism.

These kind of ideologies frequently reflect poorly on the faith of the local
populace. Frequently, they are dismissed as "mistakes" or "falsehoods." Ideology is
a glass window with distorted perspectives if it is "a window on the society. The
observer finds it difficult to see past these errors and forms presumptions about
what they take to be the "truth." Because ideology frequently warps "reality" and
causes conflict, one man's ideology is another man's lie. Seliger, M. (2019)
cautions against making the mistake of assuming that all ideas are equally valid.
They deserve recognition as important worldviews. One should also make an effort
to study their own ideological ideas in order to have a better knowledge of how
ideology functions in politics and society.

Conclusion

From this very far end, the essay can confidently say that it has entirely used the
workings of ideology, the alteration of place (locality) for capitalism development
objectives, and the results of these transformations and the workings of ideology
for the local community to show how the key ideas of historical materialism
operate in my community. A central concept of historical materialism, as the
requested essay suggests, is the productive force, production relations, modes of
production and political ideologies.

Placement of Marx's Historical Materialism within the evolution of his own work
can therefore be regarded as very crucial. The paper must also note that young
Marx already had a certain philosophy of history during the research for this
assignment and for the sake of completeness. However, it is connected to the
Young-Hegelian dilemma of philosophy's "actualization," which, as young Marx
emphasizes, must be accompanied by philosophy's "sublation." Of which this is not
yet historical Materialism.
References

Croce, B. (1914). Historical materialism and the economics of Karl Marx.

Transaction

Bukharin, N. (2013). Historical materialism: A system of sociology. Routledge

Publishers.

Shimp, K. (2009). The validity of Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism.

Major Themes in Economics, 11(1), 35-56.

Seliger, M. (2019). Ideology and politics. Routledge.