Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a theory of history and sociology in Marxist thought that posits that material and economic conditions are the primary drivers of societal structure and historical change. First articulated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century, the theory proposes that the mode of production of material life—the way a society produces and reproduces the means of human existence—determines or conditions its political, legal, and ideological "superstructure".