RE: [Marxism] Reply to Mark about "bourgeois sociology"

["Mark Lause" <MLause@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Juriaan says that my calling sociology "bourgeois" won't wash...in part
because Bukharin used it.  Let me again clarify.  I have no problem with
the word--or the concept--of "sociology."

However, such disciplines don't aim at some out-of-the-social-body
understanding of society for the sake of knowledge in itself.  They are
going to be organized, defined, funded and managed through governments,
universities, and other major institutions that exist to sustain the
status quo.

More than this, of course, the very elevation of any of these "social
sciences" to the status of a "science" reflects both fetishized
methodologies and an attempt to misrepresent the results as those of a
"science."

The thought that saying so would be so controversial among
Marxists--enough to conjure the dreaded spectre of "Stalinism"--simply
boggles the mind.

Specifically in this case, the problem with quantification as evidence
is that it can often simply obscure the qualitative issues they raise.
The numbers economists and others used for the business growth online
included people selling things on e-Bay; they can't be separated from
the ongoing self-promotion of the American economic order.

What do they mean by who is or isn't an employer or a supervisor?  The
structure of work in the U.S.--especially in the really large
institutions--usually involves a mix of duties.  What's a supervisory
job isn't that straightforward.  An old hand is responsible for training
the newcomers.  Is one an employer if you hire someone to cut the lawn?
Or someone to come in to clean the house once a week?  Once a month?  On
special occasions?  How about hiring a babysitter?  Does having a bad
back or kids elevate us from the working class into the pettit
bourgeoisie?

See the point.  What the numbers obscure are the qualitative
questions--that without that, the quantitative or just...well, numbers.

But let's go back to the question of class...if we can see the working
class in the U.S. for what it is, we can then start to understand these
various kinds of differences within it.

Solidarity!
Mark L.





_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism