[lbo-talk] Re: Wenn Ich Sozialismus hoere...

Turbulo at aol.com Turbulo at aol.com
Tue Nov 23 19:01:51 PST 2004


In a message dated 11/23/04 9:26:16 AM Eastern Standard Time, lbo-talk-request at lbo-talk.org writes:


> The problem with socialism is that it belongs to the genre of economic
> determinism - a belief that property rights cum self interest will solve
> most if not all social problems, from racism and sexism to a good life.
> Milton Friedman's _Capitalism and Freedom_ is yet another variation on the
> same theme.
>
> That trope is fundamentally false for two reasons: human agency and path
> dependence. Human agency is what ultimately defines not only the uses and
> gratifications of any particular good or asset but also the cognitive frames
> and rules under which these uses and gratifications are judged. Path
> dependence denotes the weight of past experiences, habits, sunk costs and
> vested interests that affects the process of judging not only the uses and
> gratifications but the forms and shapes of goods and commodities. It is
> thus an exercise in futility trying to determine the course of human
> interaction from the properties of objects used in that interaction.
>
> Any claim that property relations known as "capitalism" are the root cause
> of all social ills we experience and that the changing these property
> relations to "socialism" will bring universal happiness has the same
> epistemological standing as religious beliefs in the healing power of prayer
> or magic properties of fetishes.
>
> Wojtek

Is this a parody of pomo style, or what?

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