[Marxism-Thaxis] Pierre Bourdieu and Erich Fromm
Stephen, sorry I don't speak German very well at all, certainly not sufficient to read any of this material in German. But thanks anyway. CB, I think you misinterpreted me - perhaps it's my own inadequate self-expression - I think Bourdieu's approach is fundamentally marxist - it does not negate marxism. On the other hand I think that he adds some additional thoughts coherent with marxism. He has the advantage of expressing himself very carefully and precisely. Here's a good piece by him which covers a lot of ground: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu.htm I think Fromm approached the same issue from a slightly different perspective using psychoanalytic methods. Again, I see Fromm took great care to maintain the decisive but not finally determinate role of the (productive) material base but I think it is valid to see how fundamentally human (animal) drives are repressed by dominant material (social) conditions can influence ideology through the subconscious. In both cases, I was wondering if comrades here had come across arguments which might run counter to these. The issue at stake is the accusation of 'idealism' a la Lenin or from Marcuse. In regard to the latter, I think I would tend to agree with Fromm who reversed the accusation to point to Marcuse's philosophy being based on a disconnect with psychoanalytic research (and the dogmaticism of Freudian concepts). In regard to Lenin's assault on idealism, that's another question - perhaps comrades would be able to give their opinions on it? There would appear to be some consensus that it was misplaced although Timpanaro appears to stand over the bulk of his remarks pointing to their context as opposed to their expressed content. I do not know enough on this to really have a set opinion so would value any thoughts. Yours, Domhnall _ Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Fromm and Bourdieu
Thanks everyone for all the help. cb - I take your point. I ventured somewhere with the Lenin stuff that I did not want to. I obviously have misunderstood the little I've read...more reading there remains. Ralph - thanks for your summary it helped a lot. Am looking forward to those links. One question is how you see Fromm as idealist. At least as far as I understand him he doesn't seem idealist to me - he is always at pains to identify the determining medium of repression (which conditions ideology) to the social reality in which humans live. So the roots for this feedback loop are material. But I know that Marcuse accused him of being idealist in Eros and Civilization. However, I think that his attack on Marcuse is more substantial as all the Hegelians certainly appear to have a weakness when it comes to grounding their dialectics in empirical fact - it seems to me as if Marcuse earned the accusation of idealism much easier than Fromm. Obviously Fromm's Marxism was certainly early period stuff focussing on the concepts of the Philosophical notebooks era but I still don't see that as leading inexorably to idealism. One way in which idealism could creep back is perhaps that by seeing repression as reflecting inherent perhaps platonic 'human' drives that cannot find expression in concrete society. But I think he would reply by saying that they are objective, scientifically verifiable drives having their own roots in material reality - albeit the reality inherent in the human condition. So at base both drives and the cause of their repression are material and that these constitute factors which provide a mechanism for the development of an ideological superstructure corresponding to any given base. Perhaps you can shed light on this as this is pretty much the issue I was wanting some insight on. It's actually a similar question in regard to Bourdieu's approach. _ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Pierre Bourdieu and Erich Fromm
I'm trying to expand my horizons. One person who's work I'm looking into is Pierre Bourdieu. What are the key works from a marxist perspective? I'm also keen to find out any marxist critiques on his work - although I have to say from the little I have read it looks to be very much marxist but fully expanded to grasp both moments of the subject-object dialectic. Also, on Erich Fromm, I wonder if anyone has any critiques of his work (aside, that is, from Marcuse). On that latter, what are the opinions on Fromm's own critique of Marcuse - i.e. that he doesn't fully grasp psychoanalysis and that his method is weak because it is not informed by empirical data. Thanks for all responses. Yours, Domhnall _ Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
