Re: [OPE] Character masks

Hi Jurriaan:
 
I am still sailing and don't have the time or access to sources at this time to expand upon the following, but I suggest that the point of departure for comprehending this concept in Marx is to understand that its roots (for Marx, I believe) are in Hegel's method of abstraction. While capitalists (or workers!) can be *assumed* at one level of abstraction to wear character masks, their subjectivity must be allowed for at a more concrete level of abstraction. If one were to employ this assumption (a variant on the fallacy of division) one wouldn't produce very sophisticated class analyses and/or historical and geographical studies. Yet, as in most assumptions in Marx, there is an element of truth to this assumption: the laws of value and competition tend to compel individual capitalists willy-nilly to don their masks. As in any generality, there are - of course - exceptions.
 
In solidarity, Jerry
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Received on Sat Jul 24 12:37:56 2010