[lbo-talk] Harry Potter, Metritocracy, and Reward

[John Thornton]

Robert Wrubel wrote:
>   
>   Precisely, John.  I can't imagine what the "other scenarios" or motives of conflict would be in a harmonious classless society.  Would envy, loneliness, vengefulness, insecurity, will to power, still exist?  If so, that would bring in question  the hope of a classless society, that a better human being would result from it.  The issue here seems to be whether human drives and conflicts, as indicated in Freud, for example, are more fundamental than class relations in forming character.
>    
>   I havent really thought this through at all.  An answer to me might be "yes, human beings would still be "fallen", misguided, the source of laughter and tragedy, but there would be an overall air of justice and reasonableness which would soften conflict.  But that too seems rather abstract.  A lot of art arises out of feelings of alienation from the majority culture (e.g. Joyce and Ireland; Kafka; James Baldwin.)  Will there be feelings of alienation in the harmonious classless society?
>    
>   BobW

By scenarios I mean complex interactional scenarios not basic human 
emotions.
Your reply reminds me of two failed arguments I have heard in the last 
few years with regards to art.
One is that Soviet Era art was so much better than the current art 
coming from the FSU because of alienating nature of the old Soviet 
society providing artists with NEEDED inspiration.
The other is the argument that the Netherlands was now only producing 
mediocre art because the generous Dutch subsidies are too democratic and 
by making it too easy to become an artist somehow prevent great art from 
emerging.
Total horseshit.

The answer to the question you pose above "whether human drives and 
conflicts....are more fundamental than class relations in forming 
character" is an unequivocal yes.
Class induced alienation perhaps plays a smaller role in the creation of 
art than you imagine.
For lack of an easier to use term what I'll call basic human emotions 
play an infinitely greater role.
Loved ones pass away, you feel betrayed by another's infidelity, these 
types of basic human dramas mean more to people than class conflict.

John Thornton