The Struggle for a Future, Capitalism and Beyond
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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6' x 9' black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell 8 Howell Infomation and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48108-1346 USA 800-521-0600 - THE STRUGGLE FOR A FUTURE: CAPITALISM AND BEYOND David A. Ross A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Department of Sociology and Equity Studies The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto Copyright by David Allen Ross, 1999 National Library Biblioth4que nationale I*! of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington OttawaON KIA ON4 OnawaON K1AW Canada Canada Your M. 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THE STRUGGLE FOR A FUTURE: CAPITALISM AND BEYOND David Allen Ross Ph.D. 1999 - Department of Sociology and Equity Studies University of Toronto ABSTRACT Drawing upon the richness of twentieth century theorizing, I want to ideologically rearm the proletariat. However, the history of the revolutionary working class is both continuous and discontinuous, and the present discontinuity concerns the other to the mostly male industrial wage-earner who has been the traditional revolutionary subject, the neo-proletariat in Gorz's terms or the other working class in Negri's. The situation is far from clear, as alternative revolutionary subjects range from the mostly female global homeworkers to members of informal economies with community currencies, and other elements of the new social movements. Nevertheless, common to them all is some alternative set of values -- alternative to the capitalist market place -- that I subsume under the ideational rubric of Care. Heidegger's explication of Care is the most theoretically sophisticated effort of the present to define this term. I appropriate this from him for purposes of defining what could be the basic ideational suprastructure of an emerging revolutionary subject -- both continuous and discontinuous with the traditional one. f then show the common ground between Heidegger and Maw. Building from that I then consider the arguments of Fredric Jameson, in particular his conception of the totality. Jameson argues, in his ironic and playful way, for the reconception of Marxist praxis based on the evolution and involution of post-modernism, the third age of capitalism. I then consider the traditional socialist concern with planning, separating planning from the drawing up of blueprints. In reference to the work of General Idea, a group of Toronto artists, I then address the question of a war of position. and an early fighter of such a war. Revolutionaries themselves undergoing revolution is that war's chief point. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE iii INTRODUCTION 1. Surveying the Field Gorz, Gonick 2. Heidegger's Care Heidegger 3. Critique of Heideggerian Care Eisler 4. Heidegger and Marx Heidegger, Maw, Engels 5. Postmodemism Jameson 6. On Planning Ellman, Sennett 7. Archaeology of Memory General Idea 8. Memory and Temporality Heidegger, Bloch CONCLUSION NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY iii PREFACE Drawing upon the richness of twentieth century theorizing, I want to ideologically rearm the proletariat. However, the history of the revolutionary working class is both continuous and discontinuous, and the present discontinutty concerns the other to the mostly male industrial wage-earner who has been the traditional revolutionary subject, the neo-proletariat in Gorr's terms or the other working class in Negri's. The situation is far from clear, as alternative revolutionary subjects range from the mostly female global homeworkers to members of informal economies with community currencies, and other elements of the new social movements. Nevertheless, common to them all is some altemative set of values -- alternative to the capitalist market place -- that I subsume under the ideational rubric of Care. Heidegger's explication of Care is the most theoretically sophisticated effort of the present to define this term. I appropriate this from him for purposes of defining what could be the basic ideational suprastructure of an emerging revolutionary subject -- both continuous and discontinuous with the traditional one. I then show the common ground between Heidegger and Marx. Building from that I then consider the arguments of Fredrb Jameson, in particular his conception of the totality. Jameson argues, in his ironic and piayful way, for the re-conception of Marxist praxis based on the evolution and involution of post-modernism, the third age of capitalism. In my final chapters I consider the traditional socialist concern with planning, separating planning as other than the drawing up of blueprint. I then address the question of a war of position with reference to General Idea, a group of Toronto artists working from the 1970s to early 1990s. General Idea was an early fighter of such a war. I conclude that revolutionary socialism is a viable project if and only if the revolutionaries themselves undergo revolution. Socialism and communism were invented because naked capitalism was so offensive. The fact that communism failed does not make it any the less necessary to beware of the many unpleasant facets of what we call capitalism, and to try to modify them in the interests of the nobler goals of society. At the very least, even if nobler goals are easier to aspire to than to reach, the question of the basic efficiency of capitalism is one that commands attention at a time when the leading market economies, for all their regular "summit conferencesu, seem to be turning inwards on themselves.'.... There are many flaws in the various forms of Western "market economy" or capitalist economy. Indeed, it is a contention of this book that, while communism has manifestly failed as an economic system, capitalism as we know it has not necessarily succeeded. Perhaps the most fundamental point about communism was that it was a monopoly -- both politically and economically. Until the remarkable events of the late 1980s and early 1WOs, there was little else on offer in the communist regimes. In the UK during the early 1980s Mrs. Margaret Thatcher used to deflect criticism of her economic policies by witheringly declaiming: "What is the alternative?" In fact the whole point about democratic market economies is that they do offer political and economic alternatives -- as Mrs. Thatcher eventually found out to her cost.' Keegan is a liberal critic of capitalism as indicated by his notion of "socialism and communism were invented because naked capitalism was so offensive." One could equally argue that capitalism was invented because naked feudalism was so offensive. According to Marxism, stages of human society are not inventions but products of struggle arising out of the contradictions of previous stages. A given stage is, in part, a resolution of those contradictions and an answer to the questions posed; as well, however. each new stage raises different questions. For example, the causal factors responsible for the rise of capitalism were the monetization of economic life, possessive individualism replacing tradition as mechanism of demand, and the shift from a society of status to a society of contract (Heilbroner, 1962). Contradictions of feudal society were resolved in this manner, and the emergence of bourgeois society, painfully and unevenly over several centuries, sparked far-ranging debates in a variety of disciplines, as well as creating new disciplines. The transition to a new mode of production -- a post-industrial socialism -- cannot help but do the same. In the past decade there has been a resurgence of Marxist theorizing, due, in part, to the liberation experienced by the collapse of the former Soviet Bloc. 1 want to part, to the liberation experienced by the collapse of the fonner Soviet Bloc. I want to demonstrate the continued relevance of Marxism to an analysis of social structure by using that tradition to analyze the possibilities for a global future. This book deals with the cultural dynamics of what Keegan calls a democratic market economy. By positing a democratic market economy as a present-becoming-future economic form I do not intend that it is the final stage of human society.