[lbo-talk] Wacko/Sherman (was Re: Brit general says . . . .)

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Sun May 6 12:13:47 PDT 2007


Tayssir John Gabbour wrote:


> But how do you achieve these things? I think personal responsibility
> is a human trait. It's not hard to find it in people, but with enough
> work you can drive it out of them.

The trope of "personal responsibility" is a product of social relations in our capitalist, hyperindividualist society. This trope is not pancultural (in many human societies, our fixation on individual rights and responsibilities is extremely odd); it is, to be perhaps a bit too terse, ideological through and through. Moreover, instilling personal responsibility in people is not a precondition for creating a stable society; there are many other bases of social cohesion (e.g., group identity, religious beliefs, shared knowledge). Granted, personally responsible agents are absolutely necessary to perpetuate wage labor and entrepreneurship in a capitalist society, but I don't consider that social effect particularly admirable.

Miles



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