ABSTRACT
Historical materialism is a tradition that developed out of Karl Marx's analysis of history and capitalism, and his dialectical method. In describing this tradition, historical materialism is the preferred term to Marxism because Marxism has too many unfortunate connotations with a dogmatic orthodoxy and with the more dysfunctional aspects of Soviet-style communism. Historical materialism is a noteworthy tradition not only because of its contribution to our grasp of power relations in society, but also because of its obvious as well as its less visible influences over all the critical traditions and over segments of poststructuralism and postcolonialism.
