Wojtek argues that irreducibility "would only hold if the universe we
study was neatly divided into compartments corresponding to the
respective disciplines." Of course at the molecular level the universe
is continuous and not compartmentalized. At the level of
explanation, phenomena do
In reference to Maggie's question about the role of intellectuals
during past periods of popular insurgency in American history, it may
be useful to apply Gramsci's notion of the organic intellectual.
While professional intellectuals may be relatively thin on the ground
(and this is to be
Employment:
Promote full employment through progressive shortening of the work
week, the expansion of meaningful public employment, aggressive job
search/training for long term unemployed, basic income for those
still unemployed.
Wages:
The question is not the level of wages but the
The thesis that beatniks and Playboy magazine had more to do with the
breakdown of the patriarchal family than the women's liberation
movement and the increasing economic options of women as they were
drawn into the capitalist labour force is simply incredible.
There have been negative as
Bill B wonders if competitive austerity and the "high productivity"
strategy could be different forms of national capitalist competition.
The problem with this is that they are more evidently different forms
of competition between national working classes.
Nevertheless Bill's emphasis on the
Jim D and Bill B have been discussing the relation of the state and
global capital with Bill emphasizing the continuity of the nation
state and Jim arguing the possibility of the emergence of global
state structures. One possible middle road here is the harnessing
of the structures of the
Somebody referred to a study asserting that "skill premiums" to
educated labour explained a substantial part of rising income
inequality. What exactly are skill premiums in standard economics?
Are they returns to a supposed increase in productivity in which case
wages will rise on average
While computational capacity is increasing, it may be relevant in the
context of this discussion to observe that some problems are
inherently incomputable in that they demand more capacity than could
ever be provided. An example (reputedly) is minimizing the distance
travelled by a salesman
Wojtek writes:
It is a well known fact (cf. Andrew Abbott, _The System of Professions_)
that knowledge associated with professions is organized primarily on
procedural basis (i.e. what procedures are to be followed and in what
sequence to diagnose and treat a condition) rather than abstract
I have been thinking about Louis' discussion of the dialectics of
nature and entropy. While entropy necessarily increases in the
cosmos as a whole, dynamic systems which are far from equilibrium
(that is these systems experience a continuous input of energy, as
both the natural ecology and
Speaking of popular culture and the children of Claude Cockburn: I
saw The Peacemaker yesterday and Leslie and Andrew Cockburn's names
featured prominently in the credits. Does anyone know the story
behind their participation in this run-of-the-mill but deeply
reactionary piece of popular
On Marx and colonialism.
Marx's writings on Ireland balance those on India. In the Irish case
he lays much more emphasis on the deleterious effects of British rule
both politically and economically, and supports the movement for
Irish independence.
On Rebecca P's comments on the Irish
Treacy wrote:
Try the English movie, "The Full Monty" A tale of unemployed Sheffield
steel workers adapting to the a brave new and certainly funnier world. Here
in Yellow Springs the audience just laughed and laughed along. My
sweetheart made some allusion to the fact that the guy that was
Sometime back there was a discussion about the lack of originality in
much of Jim D.'s roomie Paul Krugman's work. I've been asked to
produce a published citation. Does such exist? Thanks.
Terry McDonough
From the Daily Reports:
A new National Bureau of Economic Research study by David H. Autor,
Lawrence F. Katz, and Alan B. Krueger offers new historical evidence of
the large role technological change has played in the widening wage gap
between college and high school grads From 1984 to 1993,
I like to take this opportunity to reintroduce myself (Terry
McDonough) I have been lurking for a while (partially due to some
still unresolved computer problems). I am now in a permanent
position at the University College at Galway, one of the constituent
campuses of the National
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 1995 14:26:38 -0800
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Fikret Ceyhun)
Subject: [PEN-L:1555] Tofu Thanksgiving dinner
Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jim Devine wrote:
"For those in the US (where Thanksgiving happens tomorrow), I hope
that you enjoy your roasted
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 09:14:39 -0800
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Doug Henwood)
Subject: [PEN-L:1579] Ireland as example
Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ireland is being held up by the IMF and OECD as a model country for the
virtues of rapid and radical "fiscal
Doug Henwood writes
They mean to accomplish this: deep, rapid reductions in government red ink
are possible, and have few nasty side effects.
Doug is right in that this experience is not reproducable. In
addition to my earlier points, a high return of EU structural funds
has mitigated any
Sorry about the delay in responding to Doug's request. The best
source on this question is The Irish Economy: Celtic Tiger or
Tortoise? by Antoin Murphy of Trinity College Dublin available from
Money Markets International
26 Lr. Baggot Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
fax 1-6765250
Highlights:
"The
I think the Institute for the Unification of Knowledge is one of
Wallerstein's projects in which case it will be at SUNY-Binghamton.
Terry McDonough
I was intrigued by Stavros M.'s contribution to the discussion on
Aglietta. As regards his fundamental critique of Regulation Theory,
he will find much the same will apply to my own work and SSA theory
in general. (Plug: Social Structures of Accumulation: The Political
Economy of Growth and
I don't know what's in Marty's reference but it is remarkable how
short the cultural memory is here on the left (pen-l anyway).
Political correctness was not a Maoist term, politically incorrect
was a Maoist phrase (I'm probably giving away my political history
here). It was used to
I suspect Hugo's support for the EU stems from the same basis that it
does in the rest of the Anglophone world (US and unfortunately
Ireland). Even a watered down EU social charter is better than what we
could do in our own countries. Thus Europe may be a more fruitful
terrain of class
Much like comparing Jim D.'s sense of humour with Howard Stern's,
Jim's characterization of SSA theory may be largely accurate but
still unfair. There is ample evidence of ideological and theoretical drift
on the part of many of the SSA framework's original proponents.
(Sam Bowles is a
While I'm not in general in exact sympathy with Bill's views on
France, his latest posting and Doug's earlier request concerning the
Caterpillar strike reminds me of an incident before I left the
states. I haven't heard any direct news about Caterpillar here, but
I think it was in the
Mason wonders:
Does not Terry's definition of surplus value creation mean that the
postman, the road builder, a government employee, McDonald's person,
the fireman, managers and -- in short -- most of us are not
producers of surplus value?
Except for the McDonald's worker who produces a
There may well be some confusion here, but there is more likely a
difference over the definition of basic Marxian categories. In its
basic sense, to be productive, labor must be productive of surplus
value. But this implies that several prior conditions have also been
met. To have value
Pet Rocks_ are_ more useful than neoclassical economics.
Blair and Tom W. have raised some similar questions concerning my
views on value and class.
First on the question of 'usefulness'. I am not using (sic) this
word in the ordinary sense of being some good to somebody somewhere.
Some
I was going to sign off for a week or so with my previous post but
since I will be spending Christmas north of the border in the murder
triangle pondering the overdetermination of religion and nationality
on working class consciousness I thought I might reply to Steve C.
(Hi! welcome to
Paul Z asks about section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery
Act, which guaranteed the right to organize in covered industries.
7(a) was included in the bill in order to forstall the more radical
Black Bill which had been reported onto the floor of the house and
contained not only
It is widely believed among Catholics in Northern Ireland that the
number of the Titanic could in some way be read as "no pope" and the
Titanic was sunk as divine retribrution for the lack of employment of
Catholics in the shipyards. While subsequently Catholics were
excluded from the
Wojtek's argument about tatoos fronting on the public space which has
been appropriated to the personal space of others is interesting. Is
it also possible to see tatooing as the purposeful withdrawal from
public space by establishing a clear artificial boundary where no
such clear boundary
The Marx quote under discussion implies that ruthless criticism is a
condition of science, or perhaps the social sciences in particular.
Is it possible to go one step further and contend that a position of
opposition to the existing social order is a necessary precondition
of science? This
From the Irish Times.
A new rite for exorcism is to be introduced by the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez explained how demonic
possession may be determined. Such a person may be "speaking with a
great number of words from unknown languages, or understanding them,
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 13:21:27 + (GMT)
From: Terrence Mc Donough [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L:7682] Re: Leninism
To:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Organization: National University of Ireland, Galway
Priority: normal
Oh no, what a limiting thought. Leninism was a product of its time
circumstances - could you tell me what it means to be a Leninist in the
U.S. or Australia in 1999?
Gee, this discussion makes me nostalgic. Nostalgic for a time when
the political and military problems of the socialist
On point (1) - we're a long way from the Hilferdingesque world that Lenin
wrote and thought about. Competition has intensified, finance and industry
haven't joined into a single unit (bank-supervised cartels), etc. So while
1917 was different from 1817, 1999 is pretty different from 1917,
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