rylan’s Reviews > The German Ideology ABRIDGED > Status Update

An expansion of the division of labour is introduced in the form of the separation of town and country, described as 'the greatest division of material and mental labour'. Characterizations of the two during the Middle Ages are provided, which leads into further delineation of production and commerce. This segues into a recounting of the industrial revolution (AKA the rise of manufacturing) and its preceding history.

Feuerbach's approach to materialism is thoroughly critiqued. Marx & Engels take umbrage with the aloofness of core concepts to the approach, such as 'essence' and 'liberation'. An examination of how the ruling class imputes its ideology to society writ large (laying the groundwork for Gramsci's cultural hegemony) follows. The division of labour is recontextualized as a division of 'mental' versus 'material' labour.

Communism is namedropped, in the context of how private property is an 'identical expression' of the division of labour (rooted in the family structure, reifies the contradiction between individual and community). The revolution's outcome is sketched, decrying man's alienation, before segueing into the next section on 'civil society and the conception of history'. In sum, the former is the 'theatre' for the latter.

The 'first premises' of the materialist method are laid out thoroughly, all rooted in a manner such that they can 'be verified in a purely empirical way' in contrast to German philosophy. After these details have been provided, the 'fundamental conditions' of history are detailed to lead into a discussion of consciousness as a social product, one which in turn informs the division of labour and forces of production.