Functional Explanation Again

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Wed Mar 21 17:02:33 PST 2001



>>I haven't read the above paper & intend to do so later, but could you
>>tell me when you think intentional-functional explanations are useful
>>& when you think they aren't?
>>
>>It seems to me that intentional-functional explanations aren't useful
>>for explaining the origins & transformations of ruling-class &
>>working-class racisms, for instance. Intentional-functional
>>explanations don't seem useful for explaining imperialism either.
>>
>>Yoshie
>
>I don't think there is an a priori rule as to when
>intentional-functional explanations are useful. For example, there
>is no question but that racist ideologies were intentionally
>promulgated by US, British, and South African elites in the 19th and
>early 20th centuries, in part with the idea of fighting communism.
>You can see this, e.g., in some Thomas Nast cartoons. Whether such
>an explanation is useful depends on the facts of the case, no? --jks

_Once racism arose_, it could & has sometimes been employed intentionally by the governing elite & their lackeys (e.g., Willie Horton ads). In such cases, intentional-functional explanations are obviously useful. They cover, however, only a small part of what is to be explained, I think. For instance, what of the very origin of racism? It doesn't make sense to argue that the ruling class intentionally created racism in order to enslave Africans for racism is functional to slavery under capitalism. What of the differences between ruling-class & working-class racisms? I doubt that intentional-functional explanations help to illuminate them. What of contradictory themes within racism (e.g., Mammy versus Jezebel, Uncle Tom versus Criminals)? And laws, customs, & institutions that produce racist outcomes but are not intended for such a purpose, which I believe accounts for much of post-Civil Rights racism?

Most importantly, what's functional for capitalism as a mode of production isn't necessarily good for individual capitalists or capitalist factions, & vice versa. Imperialism is functional for capitalism, but it isn't necessarily good for individual capitalists. I think intentional-functional explanations have difficulties accounting for these important phenomena (unless you attribute intention to the World Capitalist Spirit or something like that in a Hegelian fashion). For instance, intentional-functional explanations of ruling-class racism are subject to criticism from those who think like Gary Becker.

At 5:05 PM -0500 3/21/01, Charles Brown wrote:
>CB: Oppressing ruling classes are elite minorities and must be more
>conscious than the classes they oppress to rule them. The
>consciousness means that many ruling class practices are intentional
>on the part of at least the ruling class "central committees".
>"Functional" has a lot of baggage in social scientific literature,
>but these intentional practices preserve the ruling class as
>oppressing ruling class, and preserve the relations of production
>and private property.
>
>Racism does not spontaneously persist in the U.S. It must be
>continuously promoted and adapted to new circumstances. The ruling
>class knows this and they foster and reinvent it.
>
>Tautology is not foreign to fundamental theory.
>
>On teleology, the end or purpose of capitalist society _is_ more and
>continuing capitalism from the capitalists' point of view. They
>consciously act toward that end.

When the ruling class rule directly (e.g., by making investment decisions), they do so without an intention of reproducing capitalism as a mode of production; otherwise, the ruling class rule only indirectly, via the governing elite, lobbyists, think-tank intellectuals, the mass media, etc., and it's the job of the latter, not the former, to consider what's good for capitalism as a mode of production, if & when they consider it at all.

Only a small minority of capitalists actually become members of the governing elite.

Yoshie



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