Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>
> Schwarzman's need for more is shaped by American capitalism, for
> sure, but his need for more - every deal Blackstone has done has
> affected the lives of many thousands of people - shapes the world we
> live in too.
We simply do not know, and I think cannot know, what shapes "Schwarzman's need for more." Perhaps it is the same 'drive' that shapes Bonds's need to hit a few more homeruns to surpass Aaron's record. That record will not give Bonds any more money but merely put his name in the record books. Perhaps Schwarzman cares not at all for the money _as money_ but only as a way of keeping score. Or perhaps he was abused as a child and is trying to prove something to his late (?) father or grandfather. Who knows! We do know that a capitalist firm tends to shrink if it does not grow. We do know that it is rather pointless for Capitalist John to bother to go to the office unless he tries to expand profits. We know an awful lot about the social relations in which Schwarzman is enmeshed, but you are really kidding yourself if you think you know anything at all about his psychology. Perhaps his therapist does, if he has a therapist. Perhaps his wife does. And perhaps not.
If you think this is evidence of the importance of psychology to understanding social relations, you are mistaken. If this is evidence for anything it is evidence that psychology can't help understand social relations.
Carrol