On Sun, 11 Sep 2005, Lionel Mandrake wrote:
> You're not talking about individualism here. You're
> talking about enterprise. Complete conformists are
> capable of creative thinking, motivation and skills
> development.
I don't follow this: if complete conformists can think creatively and have motivation and skills that distinguish them from others, how do they differ from "nonconformists"? If you removed all the creative people who don't simply "follow the rules", a capitalist society would quickly fail! Capitalist organizations, motivated by profit, need creativity, not just complete conformity to thrive (e.g., most obviously, mass media conglomerates, but also marketing firms, drug companies, banking corps, etc.).
> And second, modern capitalism requires very little of
> this. In the average workplace, it seems to me most
> workers do a little tiny piece of the whole without
> invention, initiative or even a tremendous amount of
> skill. Attempts to do things better or more creatively
> are generally thwarted in deference to getting product
> out the door.
I'm not saying all workers must be creative geniuses; just that creative individuality is a necessary ingredient in the capitalist stew. For instance, let's say I think of a better way to do something, my company ignores it, and I start my own business or sell my production idea to someone else. I don't mean to glorify capitalism here, but isn't it self-evident that innovation, individualism and creativity are directly and indirectly rewarded in capitalist society?
> Is the implication here that if a concept emerges it's
> because capitalism requires it and, if so, it must be
> entirely free of any subversive contradictions?
no, I like subversive contradictions: the dialectic and all that.
> That would also apply to Foucault's conception of
> humans as "the product of a constellation of social
> relations" which to the arguable extent that trends
> among leftist intellectuals impact/impede social
> progress, has probably been pretty useful to
> capitalism in its own right.
Could you unpack that one? How do claims about the social construction of individuality support capitalism?
Miles