Blog 1 - Marx Response

In response to "Preface" by Karl Marx, I think he is a bit confusing in how he describes social production. He believes we are born into certain situations, in relation to history and beliefs of certain cultures regardless of if this situation is what we want it to be. As an example, I am growing up in a more digital age where computers are becoming even more utilized than ever before: professors are relying on D2L to hold readings and collect papers of students, cell phones have the internet, almost every student on campus has a laptop, etc. We are in the digital age where more and more inventions are surfacing that is "cool" and cuts back on paper, such as e-books, and it's not because we want to go more green and save the trees. It is because it is what is popular and engages people more. I would have loved to be growing up in a time, maybe 20 years ago when there weren't all these new technological developments being marketed.
As a consequence, or effect, of this (growing up in my generation, or now), we are who we are, according to Marx. In other words, we are effects of our society we live in, or our culture. Marx mentions the idea of the "superstructure." It appears there is a legal and political superstructure due to the economic structure of society. He also states "men enter into definite relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production," constituting the real foundation. When he talks about the real foundation, he is referring to the superstructure formed in society. Branches of "superstructure" are linked to education, politics, culture, art. In all societies, conditions must exist for these things to be present in order for growth of our cultures. It seems almost as if he is saying that the economy, and in some cases, the government, determines how a society is structured in every way, including print.
Marx mentions their is a conflict between the social forces of production and the relations of production. Both are needed for a society to function. Structure is needed. Productive forces must be developed, meaning material life. He continued to mention a "bourgeois society." I take that as a society with meaning, education, politics, art, etc. is a rich society. However, he realizes there are standards and decisions were made about how society should be structured. As mentioned above, we can't choose when we grow up, society is already formed and organized to a specific structure.