Dear Pen-Lers: Allow me to add my (cyber)voice to those of Michael Perelman and
Susan Feiner regarding the possible uses of Pen-L. I have been on-line for
about 3 months and have been bombarded mainly (it seems) with the discussion of
value theory. While interesting and important, that discussion tends to be
esoteric. The far too few contributions having to do with progressive social
change and how progressive economists might fit into it never seem to continue,
in part becasue people like myself have not contributed (for whatever reasons).
Part of it has to do with not wanting to upset the perceived (or received) Pen-
L decorum. That should change.
A good place to (re)start might be Susan's suggestion regarding critical
approaches to pedagogy. My own approach is to use mainstream texts and lectures
as the basis because I feel the need to impart the lingua franca to the mainly
business and business econoimcs students who take my courses. I then embellish
(or demolish, as the case may be) elements of the received doctrine through the
use of radical sources.
For instance, a standard principles of microeconomics course will include about
15 chapters in Byrns and Stone (Harper-Collins) which includes basic
neoclassical concepts and price formation in output and resource markets. At
the end of the semester I spend about two weeks (six sessions) introducing
students to the real world of capitalism. I introduce the LTV, define wealth
and the basic ownership structure of wealth in the U.S. economy, discuss the
nature and extent of poverty among lower and "middle" classes in the U.S. and
an underconsumptionist theory of crisis based on the LTV. We then discuss how
the structure and dynamic of our economy relates to the so-called "grunge
factor" among the students' generation ("generation X' as it has been called).
I have used the following sources:
Michael Parenti, "Wealth and Want in the United States" from Democracy for the
Few 5th edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988)
Sylvia Nasar "Fed Gives New Evidence of 80's Gains By Richest" New York Times
April 21, 1992
Doug Henwood, "Who's Poor?" Left Business Observer vol. 61, December 13, 1993
Wallace C. Peterson, "The Silent Depression," Challenge, July-August, 1991
Ravi Batra, "The Shattered Dream" and "Free Trade: The Real Culprit" from The
Myth of Free Trade; A Plan for America's Revival (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1993)
Barbara Ehrenreich, "Are You Middle Class?" Utne Reader, September/October, 1992
"All Work and No Play; Burnt-Out Americans Working More, Liking It Less" (An
Interview with Juliet Schor) Dollars and Sense January-February, 1992
Laura Zinn et al, "Move Over, Boomers; The Busters Are Here--And They're
Angry," Business Week, December 14, 1992
What do you all think? Reply on line.
Salem Ajluni
Department of Economics
Siena College
Albany, NY 12211
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
