Postmodernism: Materialist?

[Rauno Huttunen]

On Mon, 21 Feb 2000, Ralph Dumain wrote:

> Historical materialism refers to the social origins and social structures
> that presumably bear a causal relationship in the generation of human
> behavior, cultural institutions, beliefs and ideas, etc.  

Does this mean that "basis" (economy) have causal relationship with 
überbau(superstructure). If it, does who said so? Marx and Lenin certainly
did not. Both of them used hegelian logic. Althusser didn't like Hegel(he
did like Durkheim and Saussure) so he constructed the concept of
overdetermination which has nothing to do with causal laws.

Maybe in the tradition of analytical marxism they conceive social order
in the terms of methodological individualism and causal laws.

Rauno Huttunen
University of Jyväskylä