ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to the main ideas and issues within Marxist theory as a basis for an understanding of the Marxist perspective on education. As Marx himself says: 'With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed.' For example, the transition from the feudal to the capitalist 'mode of production', it is argued, brought with it a change in the nature of the political system. WhaThe chapter discusses one important feature of the Althusserian position, namely that it combines a determinist view of the social process, with an 'interaction' view of the relationship between the base and superstructure. Under communism alienation and its accompanying features—private property, class conflict and domination—will disappear.
