If power and the power struggle is, indeed, natural, then what is it about humans that has us hardwired to either crave or bow to power? Is it our need to be part of a structure (and not to be banished from the polis)? It also seems that if this is true then maybe (though I hate to admit it) Jameson was right. From this standpoint, too, the other theories are more abstract than Marxism. Marxism has a firm grounding in what is knowable and calculable, even if the realm of changing idealogies takes us more into the abstract (especially when the extremes of various class systems ebb and flow).
The other question is how can we allow our class values to "override" our personal values? Yet this takes me back to last week and feminism. We allow a lot of things to override our personal values in order to belong.
I think we could reasonably argue that power is, to some extent, "natural." Even in the wild, the powerful overcome the weak. The lion is born a lion, the gazelle, a gazelle.
ReplyDeleteAlthusser said that even before birth, we are "always-already a subject"(1270) - We simply are what we are born, and we perceive everything either through or in relation to a "familial ideological configuration." Which, I think, explains our inability to break free of class ideology and affect meaningful change on power structures.
In response to the last question, aren't our class values and personal values interrelated? This may be a point of discussion in class, but a person in a poor class and a person in a working/middle class will have different personal values just as class values.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the desire of power, as seen in many cases is a human characteristic. If it wasn't we wouldn't have terms such as "alpha-male" or "king of the jungle" power is just as innate as the need to drink water.
I agree with Dave's first point about the connection between personal/class values.
ReplyDeleteSome of what is being said in your post reminds me of some of the discussion that went on during Williams' "The Country and the City" when individual freedoms were being discussed. You are talking about personal values being overridden in order to belong here; In relation to Williams' piece, we talked about forfeiting personal freedom or autonomy to remain safe within the economical system: this for that, essentially.
Linda Daly
ReplyDeletePersonal values and belonging generally have overlap because we are a part of our society and taught to value what is important in society. That said I would hope that all of us are unique human beings who would not let society expectations override our personal values. But most of the time we are more shaped by soicty than we know.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ = POWER
ReplyDeletethat is the equation that makes the most sense.
didn't capitalism beat communism in the last great war of human ideology?
americans are welcomed on the streets of havana because they have money!
money money money money money
why don't we just read the books that will help us make the most money, or is that what we're doing?
ha ha