Overdetermination

From MarxWiki

Overdetermination is the idea that an effect is determined by multiple causes. Each part of society and its ideologies are constantly evolving based on one another's mutually dependent growth. In this way, ideologies have their own history and contribute to society's structure. In addition, any one of these causes could alone give rise to the effect. Althusser introduces this concept in his 1962 essay, “Contradiction and Overdetermination”, as a criticism to economic determinism and to the notion of Marxism as a simple inversion of Hegel’s ideas. He specifically explains that capitalists must ensure the reproduction of their class structure, the oppression of the working class, by ensuring the class's physical survival (such as giving adequate pay) and the class' subordinance via ingrained societal ideologies subtly infused with classism.