Activity as consciousness

Activity is dynamic not only in relation to the object but in relation to the subject as well. Hence Marx never reduces social experience to linear causal terms, for such a formulation would overlook the specific human-historical experience. This is also the meaning of Marx's famous saying that 'it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness'. 'Social being' includes by definition man's relation to the external world, and the worst that can be said about this much-quoted and little-understood sentence is that it is tautological. If 'social being' is purposive action, the shaping of external objects, this action implies a consciousness in reation to these external objects. In any case, Marx never said that 'being determines consciousness', but that 'social being determines consciousness': these are two entirely different statements.

(Avineri, 1968, pp. 75-76)