[lbo-talk] RE: The postmodern prince

Michael Dawson -PSU mdawson at pdx.edu
Mon Dec 1 11:47:23 PST 2003



> Why do you think understanding
> society is so easy that people can do it by relying on
> everyday concepts and knowledge? That's like saying
> somebody can understand the structure of the solar
> by applying common-sense words like "sunrise" and
> "sunset".

Chomsky argues, rightly I think, that understanding what we care about in society is not nearly as complex as understanding what we care about in the physical sciences. It's all about power structures, and those aren't really super-complicated. Chomsky argues that knowing social theory, for instance, is necessary but way over-rated. The task is to explain how elites organize themselves to threaten, cajole, entice, and trick commoners. If we can fix that problem, we will have solved the cardinal social issue.

I'm no Lenin fan. Yes, he gets credit for facing up to the need for organization and power politics, but I find very little of what he said to have been either original or of lasting value. He also implemented Taylorism in the USSR, with basically no criticism of it.

Nonetheless, I agree with Chomsky. You don't need a huge amount of arcane training to contribute to the libertory analysis of human society.



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