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SOCGRAD MINI-LECTURES
by
The next series of mini-lectures will be on Marx. We will begin with his critique of capitalism and carry on to evaluate his work from the point of view of conservatives, feminists, postmodernists and end by an overview of his work for progressive scholarship and critical theory for the 21st Century.
Most people turn off their minds when they hear the word, Marx. So if you are going to use or teach any of the following, is it a good idea and a fair treatment to begin with a list of the many positive contributions of capitalism; indeed, Marx listed them in the Manifesto although not many marxists read that part too closely.
And...not to worry; we will get the the many, many negativities of capitalism in the mini-lectures to follow.
Let's begin:
A. Positivities of Capitalism:
1. Capitalism is the most productive economic system found in human history. Of the five great economic systems human beings have invented/developed, capitalism is by far the most helpful to the health, welfare and dignity of human beings....so far.
2. Capitalism is the most flexible economic system ever invented: it can move capital and labor to meet demand faster than any of the previous economic systems which it replaced.
3. Capitalism has improved the knowledge system; it has a built-in drive for ever better understanding in physics, biology, psychology and, yes, critical sociology. Other economic systems set tight and punitive limits on information and critic; capitalism [not particular capitalists] requires timely, accurate, relevant and useful knowledge.
4. Capitalism tends to destroy the ancient forms of privilege and oppression. In its quest for new labor markets, capitalism destroy patriarchy and its monopoly over high status jobs. In its quest for new commodity markets, capitalism ignores ethnic, racial and national boundaries and the ancient enmities they bring. In its quest for supplies of raw materials, capitalism goes everywhere, invests everywhere and explores everywhere.
5. Capitalism has generated the best communications system of any of its previous competitors. Capitalists in Brussels needed timely information and used passenger pigeons from other european cities. In France, Napoleon set up semaphore stations to transmit information quickly from the coast. An Italian, Marconi applied electronics to communications problems and invented the telegraph. American, English, Germans and Japanese have added telephones, television, computer technology and now, satellites over which are transmitted billions of business trans- actions daily.
6. Science itself came to age in the mere 300 years of industrial capitalism; study of metals for tools and ships, study of plants for food and clothing, study of stars for shipping and flying, study of physiology for medicines and healing, study of people for learning, fighting, and working...all have propelled science and technology within a capitalist system.
7. Of the five great systems: hunting and gathering, farming and herding, slavery, and feudalism, capitalism alone requires free- dom. tribal societies, agrarian societies, feudal and slave societies confined thought and action to reproduce existing forms of politic, marriage, law, religion and morality. Capitalism casts each person alone into a constantly changing world to make his/her own way...usually on merit but always in terms of her/his own labor power. Freedom of thought, freedom of travel, freedom of investment, freedom to buy and to sell whatever the market demands; this is the essence of a capitalist economy.
9. Capitalism is the most radical economic system ever invented: Other systems have a built-in logic to remain the same century after century. Capitalism creates ever new products; ever new machinery; ever new business; ever new markets; ever new ideas and ever new social relations. The half-life of information in a capitalist society is short indeed.
10. Capitalism requires peace. Nationalism requires warfare on behalf of local capitalists, to be sure. Competition between workers and owners fuels strikes and much violence, to be sure. Monopolies over scarce jobs encourages racism and sexist politics...to be sure. But these wars, struggles and angry politics are not endemic to capitalism; they are the unhappy twins of the old and the new economics. By itself, capitalism wants peace on land, sea and in the air. By itself, capitalism want peace in the factory, classroom and shop. By itself, capitalism wants violence, murder, and robbery off the streets. Capitalism requires complete honesty on the part of workers, managers, customers and suppliers. By itself, capitalism requires children be fed, dressed, taught, and trained to be honest, loyal and productive citizens.
I know this accolade in praise of capitalism will not set will with a lot of graduate students; I know that I have not been balanced nor even fair to the data in many respects. But have patience. I am building a lecture for you to use in your classroom. You must start where the students are. You must honor what they can see all about themselves. You must resonate with their parents and other teachers have taught them or you will not teach...and you job is to teach.
Next week, I will lay out some 20 or so negativities of capitalism. When you present them to your own students, it would be a good idea to put them in a table so they could see them side by side. As you are adults, you can tolerate a bit of deferred gratification; a little suspense; a smidgen of bias and a lack of closure.
The next mini-lecture will be on Thursday morn; I go to Chicago over Spring Break to visit one of my GTA's from Colorado, Ted Manley and his most delightful wife, Helen. He and Helen are just returned from a stint of teaching in England...and a tour of Europe with their kids. I'm eager to see them again.
Until Thursday, think of other positivities of capitalism and let me know about them if you think I've missed any.
TRYoung