So, my interpretation of Carrol's view was right: everyone is nothing but a bearer of class relations, and these are stripped of all psychological content. Of course this makes it a bit mysterious what workers don't act the way workers predict the they should (who wudda thunk it, they don't act like workers! But we don't let details get in the way), but details shouldn't bother us. It also leaves it mysterious why Marx bothered to write, e.g., sharply social psychological studies like the 18th Brumiaire, or why Marxist historians like E.P. Thompson spent years and effort wasting their time with foolishness like biographies of William Morris, John Milton, and the like, or even with studies that looked into the psychological impact of religion on the working class, like The Making of The English Working Class -- but they hadn't the advantage of Carrol's insight into the fact that mental processes are historical fifth wheels. I have been, like Carroll, weeding my librarry. I now have a guide to be even more ruthless and commit to the flames any work that is not austerely structural. Maybe I can keep the literature for amusement, but not for insight.
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