MerryChristmas!, 2-22

“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being which determines their consciousness.” (37)

This was the very first quote on the Marx powerpoint and the main one that jumped out at me. I thought more in depth about this quote meant and I realized that in the quote itself, the "social being" has determined Marx's own consciousness without realizing it. In this quote, Marx is reinforcing the truth about male-run societies. He uses the word "men" to refer to all beings. This disregards women entirely. I am no feminist by any means, but social constructs are being made. In Marx's society, men are obviously the dominant figure. I found this quote to be a little ironic in its wording.

Althusser states that, “The author and the reader . . . both live . . . ‘naturally’ in ideology.” (46). Who can determine what is natural? Marx's natural use of language is to refer to all of civilization as "men", but is that natural? The concept of natural is a difficult one to reflect on, because nothing is inherently natural besides Maslow's lowest hierarchy of needs which is basic needs for survival. Those are perhaps the only "natural" needs in this world. Ideologies simply mask one's biases into becoming natural. For instance, it is not natural for one to assume that men have power over women, but it is a social construct that has been placed on them from their society