From: Ian Wright (wrighti@ACM.ORG)
Date: Mon Oct 29 2007 - 17:10:16 EDT
> Well, that's also the problem with identifying what you think is the class > basis of a perspective. Once you say, "your theory is petit-bourgeois" that closes off > discussion since no one in their right mind would argue with a person over > such a claim. Why do you think "no one in their right mind would argue with a person over such a claim"? Why should this kind of assertion "close(s) off discussion"? There's a long and rich tradition of analyzing the class content of social theory within Marxism, not least Marx's Theories of Surplus Value and his 18th Brumaire, and more modern texts, such as, off the top of my head, Dobb's Theories of Value and Distribution and Callinicos' Against Postmodernism. This list is rather large. All of these authors would of course welcome being rationally challenged on any of their claims to link social theories to class interests. But it would be incredibly naive to think that social theories are independent of class interests, and also somewhat censorious to suggest that such links should not be mentioned or discussed, which seems to be your wish.
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