>What Marx called the "abstract -- isolated -- human individual exists in
>capitalism, and most if not all capitalist ideology stems from the
>premise that that individual is The Human Individual.
>BUT BUT -- I am not convinced that your homo oeconimus has any social
>existence but is _purely_ a creature of ideology, existing only in
>thought.
dewd. how can you have no social existence and also be a creature of ideology. ideology is upheld by people. people do things every day that uphold that ideology. they act.
>I won't argue it, but I think you should considere the possibility.
>
>Carrol
obviously, it's a normative ideal -- all institutions are founded on normative ideals. consider your own normative ideal of what professional knowledge looks like. you argue that, in academia (an institution) practices should uphold knowledge as a collective product and that knowledge is always corrigible. thus, you argued once, people shouldn't be "kicked out" of academia for technical errors in their knowledge. and that's what happens. no one is disbarred for technical errors but for ethical errors. professors aren't stripped of their positions b/c they are wrong, they are stripped when they committ ethical erros, and especially when they refuse to engage i a game of deference and demeanor when they are wrong. Ward Churchill, for instance, was held accountable for not addressing his critics. It was seen as an ethical violation of a code of professional conduct about how to handle criticism.
normative ideal. the ideal doesn't exist (no one completely makes every decision refusing to consider others needs a la home ec). but you can look at the practices -- the way people behave toward one another, rules about how to treat one another and our activities upholding those rules and socializing others to those rules -- and show how they uphold that ideal. we have an ideal of romantic love, but of course in day to day life, people do sometimes marry for status, money, etc. even if also for romantic love. we _do_ judge others' couplings on the basis of whether or not it appears that they are together because they love each other. if they are together for the kids, etc., we might admire their strength, but we typically feel it's not the ideal coupling.
so, homo oeconimus is upheld in our practices around _even_ romantic love.
shoot. even elevator behavior enacts the ideal of home ec.
how many people in the united states would say, "oh, you decide for me, i couldn't possibly know my own interests. you know them best." If someone does say such a thing, they are promptly deemed crazy and people would to put them in an institution. But wait! It's hard to commit someone to an institution. Why? Cause who do we think knows best about what they want, need, desire? The individual! Even people others think are possibly insane, as long as they aren't hurting anyone, let them do what they wish, yah?
how many americans would applaud the neighborhood old head spanking their kid if kid was caught stealing candy? kids might not be best judges of their needs and desires we mostly think, but one thing's clear: we tend to believe -- and act -- in ways that uphold the notion that parents, not the neighbor, are the best judge of how to punish a child for stealing candy.
the whole controversy over Terry Schiavo... who knew her needs, desires, wnats best? If we lived in a world that didn't uphold HOMO EC every minute of the day, that controversy would never have happened.
Abortion rights! Who can decide best what a woman should do with her body.
And you know as well as I do that the resistance to, outright hostility toward, anything smacking of the government telling you what to do...
the entire Olympic spectacle: a tribute to Homo Ec. Hell, I listened to folks at lunch going on about how, only in commie china would that much money be spent and would that kind of order be had because someone told them to shut down the city for the day.
it's an idea, an ideal, sure but it has real practical consequences for how we behave toward one another. people enact ideas. so, again, i do not understand how ideas exist and aren't social. maybe you mean something else.
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)