[lbo-talk] Social Movements

Marvin Gandall marvgandall at videotron.ca
Sat Mar 4 10:35:04 PST 2006


Wojtek asks:


> I have another question - why do you think people on
> this list, including yourself, consistently refuse to
> address my point about the institutional influences on
> people's views and electoral behavior and insist on
> viewing that behavior as an individual preference or
> choice? I do not mean "agree" but "explicitly
> acknowledge," even if only to flatly reject it. As
> any decent sociologist would attest, institutional
> norms and expectations have a powerful effect on
> individual behavior - so the point I am trying to make
> is not something totally off the wall, not even worth
> being taken seriously.
---------------------------------- You've got to be kidding. Moi? Who was charged with the crime of "economic determinism" only yesterday by yourself? I'm more used to criticism that I ignore "agency" and "overdetermine" structure in suggesting that real change won't be on the agenda until there is a major crisis. I think the difference between us is that you give primacy to cultural factors to explain the relative conservatism of the US masses while I see these mostly as an outgrowth and response to the social, economic, and political pressures they're experiencing. As I've noted, you also have a one-sided view of the US political culture; in fact, America comprises two cultures of relatively equal strength which coexist uneasily alongside each other: one conservative and the other liberal, the latter one quite in tune with your values.



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