[PEN-L:2419] Re: A new Threat on the Horizen -Post Tenure R

[blairs@xxxxxxxxxxx (Blair Sandler)]

At 6:06 AM 1/18/96, Terrence  Mc Donough wrote:
>Blair writes:
>
>> Between Edwards and Gintis, I think this really says something about the
>> whole social structure of accumulation crowd.
>
>I must insist that Blair read the first section of  Social Structures
>of Accumulation by Kotz, McDonough, and Reich, CUP 1994, before
>tarring the SSA framework with the actions of Edwards (as my views on
>the importance of the defense of guild privilege are known on this
>forum ad nauseam, I hope the lions make a meal of Edwards ad nauseam)
> or the views of Gintis (who as far as I know has never written in the SSA
>tradition).

When I asked for opinions of others and suggested mine could be result of
bias or ignorance I was serious. I associate Gintis and Edwards with the
SSA crowd at UMass but perhaps this is just wrong. If so, then the behavior
of these two (in particular) is no reflection on SSA.


>This is of more than biographical interest because of the extemely
>close (dialectical) link between political positions and social
>analysis.  To the extent that we become more conservative, our social
>analysis becomes less critical, and consequently less accurate and
>useful.  I believe this argument  applies prominantly to those who
>have adopted methodological individualism or gone Keynesian.  It also
>applies to pomo which is perhaps the dominant mode of retreat from a
>fundamental analysis of the necessity for a critique centering on
>capitalism and the need for revolution.
>
>Terry McDonough

I guess I don't get how this applies to PoMo, since the Amherst School (but
maybe they're not considered PoMo?) seems to me to focus incessantly on the
need for revolutionary overthrow of capitalist social relations. At least I
certainly do. There is a continuing tendency among many to assimilate
post-modernism to post-marxism. This move is illegitimate, as there are
post-modern marxists. (He says, hating to sound like a broken record....)

Blair Sandler