[Marxism] Bonds, Genes, Racism

[Rakesh Bhandari <bhandari@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>But they shouldn't be dismissed simply on the grounds that " (A)
>Clark's arguments sound like sociobiology,  AND (B) Some
>sociobiologists hold right-wing views, ERGO (C) Clark must be
>wrong/racist" This is a horrible way to argue anything, and gives
>Marxism/Marxists a bad name.


You are constructing the basis for skepticism in the weakest possible 
way. 1. The genetic change could not have been realized in the time 
Clark allows, 2. places where there was putatively no genetic change 
industrialized and evidenced same behavioral change, 3. institutional 
change, the accidental result of many independent causes, can explain 
the changes in behavior, 4. the changes in behavior were not as 
hardwired as Clark claims, and early capitalism often depended on 
behavior which Clark does not think was hardwired (negative 
reciprocity and slaving violence for example). Clark's thesis is 
absurd, and it does attempt to naturalize international income 
inequality as the on line intro to his book makes clear. To 
understand why such an absurd thesis can be taken seriously or 
lightly questioned only as speculative one must understand the 
imbrication of race and biology in the course of slavery and 
imperialism.
Rakesh
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