On Sat, 13 Mar 2004, Michael Dawson wrote:
> So I actually do understand your horseshit argument. You are wrong, as was
> Althusser, perhaps the single most over-rated Marxist theorist in all of
> history.
>
> "The
> subject-agents are only active in history through the determination
> of the relations of production and reproduction, and in their forms."
>
> Poppycock.
>
Well, we have a fundamental disagreement then. Leave aside Althusser: we've got about 100 years of theory and research in the social sciences (starting with Cooley, looking glass self, up through the research on cultural psychology today) that clearly supports the claim that the self is socially constructed. People do not automatically develop selves that emphasize freedom and individuality; rather, ongoing social interactions in some societies introduce and reinforce the importance of choice, and people integrate this emphasis on freedom into their own identities.
--A little anecdote to illustrate the point. When I was about 5, I asked my mom how you make scrambled eggs. She showed me, and I still remember to this day how she emphasized that some people like the eggs dry, others like them wet, and I had to decide how I liked them when I made them. I was a little confused; I'd never thought about it before, and I had to start thinking about how I wanted to make the eggs. Note the lessons here: develop your individual preferences; make choices to fulfill those preferences.
Every day people in our society have interactions like this, and these interactions help produce people who value independence and freedom.
Miles