Re: The economy - a new era?

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

In vol. III, Marx distinguished between the capitalist-as-owner and the capitalist-as-coordinator, where in the latter case the capitalist acts like an orchestra conductor. He saw coordination as necessary, but noted that the job of coordination was being given more and more to hired managers. 
 
Albert's theory of coordinatorism is that _absent_ capitalists (i.e., after a revolution), the coordinators can and (usually) will take power, becoming a new class. This is more extreme than most Marxist theories (which pointed to a privileged strata of the old USSR's working class -- or the working classes of other post-revolutionary countries -- that would fight to preserve its power), but then again, Mike A. is some sort of anarchist.
Jim

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Michael Perelman [mailto:michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
	Sent: Thu 2/12/2004 11:10 AM 
	To: PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
	Cc: 
	Subject: Re: [PEN-L] The economy - a new era?
	
	

	I've worked in academic institutions and briefly in a corporate
	environment.  My experience reinforces the what I've read about
	management practices.  Without necessarily arguing against any
	coordinators, I feel certain that management structures today are
	designed to maximize control and minimize workers' voice in management.
	
	Where I play basketball, I'm the oldest, slowest, and least talented on
	the floor.  I appreciate it when some of the better players -- and there
	are some very talented players there -- some who have played
	professionally -- use their experience to give me orders while the game
	is in motion.  Coordination can be useful.
	
	
	
	On Thu, Feb 12, 2004 at 01:59:03PM -0500, Doug Henwood wrote:
	> Michael Perelman wrote:
	>
	> >I was thinking of the architecture of the managerial structure.
	>
	> Do you buy Michael Albert's critique of a "coordinator" class? Could
	> you have large enterprises with a flat self-managing structure,
	> without some sort of managers?
	>
	> Doug
	
	--
	Michael Perelman
	Economics Department
	California State University
	Chico, CA 95929
	
	Tel. 530-898-5321
	E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu