Dialectic has perfectly nice non-nerd “dialogue” word, or “negotiation” which fits more closely.

And materialism of marxism lies in more that society development (laws customs whatevs) is driven materially (by actually existing physical world), guided by how production is set-up, and not by the gheist of the nation/progress towards justice/gods plan/technology level (although this part is more fuzzy due to direct connection to forms of production).