Drawing on the Marxist idea of historical materialism, Freire’s analysis of the social institution of oppression and his theory of revolutionary action see history as embodying the dialectical evolution of class struggle. For Marx, history is dynamic and progressive, embodying antagonistic social forces that are determined by the economic modes of production within human society. Capitalism, as an exploitative economic system in which the dominant elite benefit from the labor and disenfranchisement of the poor, conceals a host of structural contradictions in the effort to sustain itself. These include the claim that capitalism enables a “free” society in which everyone is able to succeed based on individual merit, that it values human rights and egalitarianism, that it is a natural and rational form of human organization, that by promoting charity it ensures the welfare of all, and that private property is fundamental to personal human development. To the Marxist, all of these claims are contradicted by the actual practice and dehumanizing results of capitalism for the majority of those subjected to it.

Freire’s argument in Pedagogy is imbued with the concept of the dialectic, and frequently refers to it as a dynamic structure in which contradictions are resolved within history leading to the fuller humanization of humankind.