>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
> >
> > On Apr 30, 2009, at 11:40 AM, Eric Beck wrote:
> >
> > >> Which suggests that the co-op/worker ownership movement can't
> > >> really grow without a sympathetic state, eh?
> > >
> > > Can you say small sample size?
> >
> > Yeah, but social life often doesn't provide large n's. So you have to
> > supplement it with theory. And theory tells me that states can
> > accomplish things that small bands of individuals, especially those
> > lacking a broader social vision, can't.
>
> While I agree with the conclusion here, I'm a bit shocked by this
> personifcation of Theory which tells us things. After all, Eric is
> operating from Theory too. Hence Theory as such does not tell us a damn
> thing. We reach certain conclusions by theorizing, and others reach
> other conclusions by the same process, and we have to fight it out.
>
Silly, pedantic, comment Carrol. One which ignores the lack of theoretical content or foundation in Eric's six word note - which is not to claim that he is a- or pre-theoretical in the main - and one which imagines that Doug is not writing in shorthand - a shorthand any sympathetic reader can decode - given that this is an email list and he has many other things he is working on. It also imagines that Doug's appeal to theory represents a personification rather than an appeal to or clarification of the theoretical content of his earlier engagement with the empirical topic at hand. Lastly, it is a comment of the variety you are most often justifiably excoriated for making - see Doug's recent comment to you along these lines... comments which appear to often lead others to have a predilection to reject (out of hand) your more substantive and valuable contributions.
-A