[lbo-talk] Why Capitalism Cannot be Tamed

[Miles Jackson]

On 10/30/2010 05:59 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
> In sum, different social groups and networks develop different value
> systems, which in turn affect the behavior of members of these groups
> and networks.  Some of these value systems are considered deviant by
> general population, but most of them are not.  This is Sociology 101.
> What makes the deviant value systems of the capitalist subculture
> different than those of "ordinary" deviant subcultures is the immense
> propaganda effort undertaken by the media and the academia to
> legitimate it.  This creates a highly deceptive illusion that these
> deviant norms are "natural" and prevail in every human society.  In
> reality, however, they are limited to a narrow group of capitalists
> and their mouthpieces.  It follows that fighting the deviant norms and
> behavior of the capitalist class is much easier than the noise machine
> that glamorizes it claims - it is fundamentally no different from
> controlling (if not eliminating) other forms of deviance that all
> human societies do.
>    

Hey, I love Soc 101, so I agree with most of this.  I do have a hard 
time thinking of the norms of capitalists as "deviant" when they are in 
fact the dominant norms of our society (e.g., personal responsibility, 
individualism, self-interest).   For instance, if you ask the majority 
of people in our society why some people are poor, they will typically 
point to poor people's personal deficiencies.  I agree that's the result 
of the incessantly reinforced norms and values of capitalism; however, 
from a sociological perspective, there's nothing "deviant" about it; 
it's just the dominant perspective in our society right now.

Miles