[lbo-talk] Philip Mirowski - Social Physicist

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Mar 2 08:26:50 PST 2010


On Mar 2, 2010, at 9:24 AM, B. wrote:


> I began as a Sociology major and I'll be honest, thanks to some of
> the particular/individual teachers I had, it opened ideological
> doors, but also introduced me to vocabulary like "Intersectionality"
> and "multiplicity of oppressions," and "subaltern," etc., - even
> "surplus value" - that folks outside academia - to whom these terms
> referred, btw - has had zero impact in my relating to people, once
> as a hopefully organizer for the IWW.

Well yeah they're jargony, but the concepts underlying the words are important, aren't they? There's no reason you can't translate those concepts into words that people understand. Like trying to organize black women workers - the concept of multiplicity of oppressions is pretty relevant to their lives and any organizing appeal would have to recognize it.

Doug



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