The German Ideology

The bourgeoise are the class who own the means of production and therefore employ wage laborers. They are the capitalist class in industrialization. This definition differs from contemporary usage, where bourgeois refers to the middle class.

The Hegelian dialectic describes how the thesis produces a reaction, called the antithesis, which challenges the original thesis. The solution to the two is called the synthesis. Hegelian dialectics suggest that no original idea is perfect and that it must pass through its negation to become concrete.

Marx and Engels adopted Hegel’s concept of the dialectic to develop what they called dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism is a mode of reasoning, or a way of understanding reality. It draws from Hegel’s tripartite theory but it focuses on material conditions. Therefore, it combines dialectics and materialism. Dialectical materialism asserts the primacy of matter over the mind. Matter is in constant change, and all matter is interconnected. Dialectical materialism seeks to concretely understand things that are in constant process, movement, change, and interconnection. Marx argues that the tensions between contradictions and their solutions are caused by material needs. Historical events can be understood as a series of conflicts and their solutions. Dialectical materialism is the theoretical basis for the working class’s struggle to attain a more equitable human society.