From Wikipedia: "Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history first articulated by Karl Marx (1818–1883)

From Wikipedia: "Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history first articulated by Karl Marx (1818–1883) as the materialist conception of history. It is a theory of socioeconomic development according to which changes in material conditions (technology and productive capacity) are the primary influence on how society and the economy are organised. Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans collectively produce the necessities of life. Social classes and the relationship between them, plus the political structures and ways of thinking in society, are founded on and reflect contemporary economic activity." [1] From about.com: "Carol Hanisch's essay explains the idea behind the phrase "the personal is political." A common debate between "personal" and "political" questioned whether women's consciousness-raising groups [during the late 1960s and 1970s] were a useful part of the political women's movement. According to Hanisch, calling the groups "therapy" was a misnomer, as the groups were not intended to solve any women's personal problems. Instead, consciousness-raising was a form of political action to elicit discussion about such topics as women's relationships, their roles in marriage, and their feelings about childbearing." [2] It is essential from any angle to talk about and recognize social, cultural, and economic historical and present systems in any discourse, even about one's personal experience. Activists and academics have been recognizing this for centuries, and the principle applies as much to supposedly democratic, egalitarian "technology" as any facet of life [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism [2] http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/consciousness_raising.htm http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/consciousness_r...