On Fri, 5 Dec 2003, Michael Dawson -PSU wrote:
> So, you don't believe that people's self-development should be left up to
> them, to the maximum extent possible?
But this idea of "individual self-development" is itself a culture product of life in what cultural psychologists call "individualist" societies. In collectivist societies, self is conceptualized as an interdependent product of social relations, not something individuals choose and "build" for themselves.
Moreover, it is no coincidence that individualism thrives in societies with capitalist economies. Capitalism needs individualism: individuality is expressed in commodity purchases, capitalist expansion requires innovation and creativity, the concept of the individual provides an effective ideology to justify social inequalities ("every man for himself").
So when you say "self-development should be left up to the person", you're celebrating an ideal of personhood that is a crucial ideological component of capitalist societies.
Perhaps the master's tools cannot dismantle the master's house?
Miles