English Explanatory Dictionary

historical materialism

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, looking for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans collectively produce the necessities of life.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-historical materialism.wav

Word forms

historical materialism

Etymology

Calque of German historischer Materialismus. Its earliest extant attestation - in German - is in Friedrich Engels's letter [5 August 1890] to Conrad Schmidt. Its earliest extant public attestation - in English - is in Engels's 1892 "Introduction to the English Edition" to his 1880 booklet Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Antonyms

historical idealism
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