郭沫若等人最早嘗試用唯物史觀對中國歷史做整體研究。中國馬克思主義史學初步形成于《讀書雜志》發起的中國社會史論戰時期。郭沫若的《中國古代社會研究》和以《讀書雜志》為中心展開的中國社會史論戰,雖分別基于"知其所以然"和從社會性質深入到社會史的兩種研究路徑而發起,表現為"根據地下發現的實物"探求"唯物論的適應度"和為了考察社會性質而去追索其"邏輯發生"的"史的生成"這兩種研討形式而展開,卻都是有意識地運用唯物史觀考察、解釋中國歷史發展過程及其不同發展階段的社會性質。社會史論戰本身既是由現實問題而來,又全然表現為將史實"嵌入"理論的研究方式,看上去便與從史料出發并標榜史學"求真"的學院派史學之間存在著間隙,一時難以得到主流史學界的認同。

Guo Moruo and others first attempted to apply historical materialism to the holistic research of Chinese history.Historiography of Historical Materialism in China first took shape when Dushu magazine initiated the debate on Chinese social history. Study on Ancient Chinese Society authored by Guo Moruo and the debate on Chinese social history initiated by Dushu magazine followed two different approaches: the former centered on the “why”question and the latter attempted to study social history through exploring the nature of the Chinese society. Guo based his arguments on the unearthed archaeological findings and tried to ascertain the appropriate boundaries of materialism. In contrast,participants in the Chinese social history debate explored the logic behind history based on their analysis on the nature of the Chinese society.Both represented the conscientious efforts to examine the the development of Chinese history and the nature of the Chinese society at different historical stages through the lens of historical materialism. The debate on Chinese social history stemmed from concerns for concrete issues on the ground,but it was manifested in the approach of “embedding historical materials into theories”. Such an approach was incongruent with the academicism tradition in history study which concentrated on historical materials and advocated “seeking truth ” in historiography. It was no wonder that it was not recognized by mainstream historians for quite a while.