From: Jurriaan Bendien (adsl675281@TISCALI.NL)
Date: Sat Nov 24 2007 - 14:33:06 EST
Progressive sociologist Ulrich Beck, who is maybe a bit like Germany's John Holloway, has published some "theses" on the world situation here http://www.signandsight.com/features/1603.html He writes among other things: "It is a question of inverting Marx's basic idea: it is not that being determines consciousness, but instead that consciousness maximizes new possibilities for action (cosmopolitan perspective) by players who are engaged in global political power relations. There exists a royal road to the transformation of one's own power situation. But first you must change your world-view. A sceptical, realistic view of the world - but the same time a cosmopolitan one! It is an irony of history that the world-view discredited by the collapse of communism in Europe has now been adopted by the victors of the Cold War. The neoliberals have elevated the weaknesses in Marx's thought to their own creed, namely his stubborn underestimation of nationalistic and religious movements, and his one-dimensional, linear model of history." I'm in favour of Beck's cosmopolitan idea, but I think it is disappointing that a leading sociologist gets it so wrong about Marx. It is doubly disappointing that most of these ideas are just a rehash of old themes. Jurriaan
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