What is 'history from below'?

It is the practice, associated especially with Marxist social historians, of writing history from the standpoint of ordinary people — workers, peasants, the poor — rather than elites and states.

Why is E. P. Thompson's view of class important?

Thompson argued that class is not merely an economic position but a relationship made by people through shared experience, which opened Marxist history to questions of culture and consciousness.

Marxist Historiography

The tradition of history-writing that explains historical change through material conditions, modes of production, and class conflict, and that pioneered 'history from below'.

Troba un tema amb PaperMindAviatFind papers & topics

Tools & resources

Baixa les diapositives

Learn & explore

VídeoAviat

Definition

Marxist historiography is an approach to history grounded in historical materialism, which treats the development of the productive forces, modes of production, and the resulting class struggles as the primary determinants of historical change.

Scope

This topic covers the application of historical materialism to the writing of history: the analysis of social formations through their economic base and class relations, the British Marxist historians' recovery of the agency of working people, and the debates over economic determinism, base and superstructure, and the relation between class and culture.

Core questions

How do modes of production and class relations structure historical change?
What is the relationship between the economic base and the cultural and political superstructure?
How can historians recover the experience and agency of ordinary people — 'history from below'?
Where is the line between materialist explanation and economic determinism?

Key theories

Historical materialism: Social change is driven by developments in the forces and relations of production, with the resulting class antagonisms shaping politics, law, and ideology.
Class as a historical relationship: Thompson reconceived class not as a static structural category but as something that happens in human relationships, made by people through shared experience and consciousness.

History

Rooted in the historical writings of Marx and Engels, Marxist historiography matured in the twentieth century through figures such as Gramsci and, most influentially in the anglophone world, the British Marxist Historians' Group — Hill, Hilton, Hobsbawm, and Thompson — whose work on early-modern revolution and the making of the working class reshaped social history.

Debates

Determinism versus agency: Marxist historians divided over how strongly the economic base determines historical outcomes, with culturalist Marxists like Thompson resisting mechanical readings of base and superstructure in favor of human experience.

Key figures

E. P. Thompson
Eric Hobsbawm
Christopher Hill
Rodney Hilton
Antonio Gramsci

Seminal works

thompson1963
hobsbawm1997

Frequently asked questions

What is 'history from below'?: It is the practice, associated especially with Marxist social historians, of writing history from the standpoint of ordinary people — workers, peasants, the poor — rather than elites and states.
Why is E. P. Thompson's view of class important?: Thompson argued that class is not merely an economic position but a relationship made by people through shared experience, which opened Marxist history to questions of culture and consciousness.