Marx from the Dark Side

     According to Marx and Engels, consciousness is determined by the material facts of life and ideology is the product of actual life work. This brings economic and social determinism to a new level. The standard brand would argue that the “choices” we make are informed by the environment that surrounds us, but for Marx and Engels, the illusion that we have unlimited choice is already informed by social reality. “Choice” becomes the ultimate bourgeois ideological fantasy. It serves the powers that be in the late capitalist society. If everyone who is not of that ruling class believes that there is freedom to create ones own social and economic destiny, the tension of class struggle becomes lessened. “One must simply work harder and make smart choices,” becomes the theme. From their strictly material viewpoint notions like “The American Dream” are the ideological trappings that reinforce the ruling class. One can make decisions based on the limited scope of one’s economic condition, but “Choice” is always circumscribed by a consciousness and ideology as they are transmitted from material experience. Life is multiple choice, not open ended questions.
     By applying this principle to literature, authorial intention and imagination are called into question. If material reality determines consciousness, a writer must always be limited by their material reality. Consciousness is never be free to extend beyond the strictures of a determined ideology. “Choice” is again circumscribed by the dictates of the material facts of a given life. There would of course still be choices within the framework of a given ideology for that author, but those would be limited. I suppose this falls in with the general Marxist theme that an author is always reinforcing or rejecting a certain ideology, but it is also possible to put the more ominous spin see the author as co-opted by ideology and material life.