|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
superstructure
superstructure Like the term base, that of superstructure was imported into Marxist discourse on the authority of Marx's reference to the sphere of production as being the ‘real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness’, which appears in his Preface to a Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy (1859). Conventionally, therefore, the superstructure of a society comprises its political and cultural (or ideological) realms. Issues such as how the superstructure relates to the base, precisely what it consists of and the nature of its internal dynamics, were discussed by Marx when he spoke of ideology and the fetishism of commodities. Since Marx's time these issues have been approached through such concepts as hegemony and discourse. The net result has been that the architectural metaphor upon which the distinction between the base and the superstructure conventionally rests is no longer an adequate summary of the complex relations that are now understood to obtain between the economic and the other realms of society. Arguably, as commentators such as G. A. Cohen have recently observed, Marx himself did not intend such a crude view of unidimensional and unidirectional causality. See also MODE OF PRODUCTION; SOCIAL FORMATION.
|
|
|
Cite this article
GORDON MARSHALL. "superstructure." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. GORDON MARSHALL. "superstructure." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-superstructure.html GORDON MARSHALL. "superstructure." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-superstructure.html |
|
superstructure
su·per·struc·ture / ˈsoōpərˌstrəkchər/ • n. a structure built on top of something else. ∎ the parts of a ship, other than masts and rigging, built above its hull and main deck. ∎ the part of a building above its foundations. ∎ a concept or idea based on others. ∎ (in Marxist theory) the institutions and culture considered to result from or reflect the economic system underlying a society. DERIVATIVES: su·per·struc·tur·al / ˌsoōpərˈstrəkchərəl/ adj. |
|
|
Cite this article
"superstructure." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "superstructure." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-superstructure.html "superstructure." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-superstructure.html |
|
superstructure
|
|
|
Cite this article
"superstructure." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "superstructure." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-superstructure.html "superstructure." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-superstructure.html |
|
superstructure
superstructure n. the parts of a ship, other than masts and rigging, built above its hull and main deck.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"superstructure." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "superstructure." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-superstructure.html "superstructure." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-superstructure.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
.png "Click to see an enlarged picture")
