On Jun 1, 2011, at 4:48 PM, c b wrote:
> In addition, childbirth procedures as well as the handling of the
> infant in the first minutes, hours after birth, differ widely. By a
> day or two (at most) after birth the baby is enmeshed in an ensemble
> of social relations.
>
> It is the uterine environment which causes the fingerprints on the
> left and right hands to differ. This is Lewontin's illustration of the
> point Miles makes. CB is parting from his _own_ Marxist tradition
> here.
>
> Carrol
>
> ^^^^^^
>
> CB: This is so out to lunch. Go study some _biological_ anthropology and Marx
In her wonderful book, Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine reports studies showing that from the moment sex is determined, mothers begin speaking differently of their experience of the fetus. More aggressive words are used to describe the kicks of boy babies than girl. Since babies recognize their native language at birth, having heard it in the womb, the embeddedness in social relations doesn't even have to wait until a day after birth.
Doug