On 2010-11-24, at 2:16 PM, Eubulides wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The norm for humankind was the
>> opposite - social solidarity and reciprocity - because it was essential for
>> survival.
>
> =================
>
> What was so great about
> the forms of social solidarity and obligation in 13th century Europe
> or Yuan and Ming era China that they should be considered the norm on
> which to assert capitalism is an historical aberration?
Wojtek and Carrol are idealizing the relations which existed between masters and slaves, lords and serfs, in order to make their dubious point that the relationship between capitalists (deemed to lack any sense of paternalistic obligation) and workers is incomparably worse. The classless hunter-gatherer societies which preceded these modes of production may have uniquely exhibited social solidarity within the narrow confines of the clan or tribe, but fighting between clans and tribes over scarce resources was as common as later conflicts between capitalist nation-states.