上层建筑（Superstructure）是一个马克思主义哲学概念，在马克思主义哲学中，上层建筑是指:创建在一定经济基础上的社会意识形态以及与之相适应的政治法律制度和设施等的总和。在阶级社会中，政治法律制度和设施是上层建筑的重要组成部分，通常简称为政治上层建筑。

马克思主义认为：政治思想、法律思想、哲学思想、文艺思想等意识形态诸种形式，通称为是思想上层建筑，在上层建筑中，政治处于主导地位；国家政权是上层建筑的核心。

马克思主义还认为：经济基础和上层建筑具有辩证关系，即经济基础和上层建筑是辩证统一的。

第一，经济基础决定上层建筑。

In Marxist theory, human society consists of two parts: the base (or infrastructure) and superstructure; the base comprises the forces and relations of production—employer–employee work conditions, the technical division of labour, and property relations—into which people enter to produce the necessities and amenities of life. These relations determine society’s other relationships and ideas, which are described as its superstructure. The superstructure of a society includes its culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. The base determines (conditions) the superstructure, yet their relation is not strictly causal, because the superstructure often influences the base; the influence of the base, however, predominates. In Orthodox Marxism, the base determines the superstructure in a one-way relationship.