[Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent

[Dr. Paul C. Mocombe]

Mike,
I have a question for you...the problem I see in bourgeois sociology is the fact that capitalist relations of organizing society is taken to be the nature of reality as such.  As a result, sociology theory and analysis is framed in terms of understanding what is the appropriate way of organizing society and human relations vis-a-vis the organization of work amidst class structural differentiation.  Treating behavior associated with the latter as dysfunctional...it seems as though that is the emerging trend in mainstream bourgeois psychology as well.  I attribute this phenomenon to the revisionism in marxism, especially as highlighted in the work of Bernstein. ..is there a parallel revisionist movement among Vygotsky scholars?


Dr. Paul C. Mocombe
President
The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc.
www.mocombeian.com 
www.readingroomcurriculum.com 
www.paulcmocombe.info 

<div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu> </div><div>Date:12/08/2014  10:42 PM  (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent </div><div>
</div>The centrality of class in human relations and psychological development is
a topic that cannot get enough attention, Paul and Annalisa. Its one lesson
of the 1930's in the US (at least) that appears non-appropriatable by later
generations. Or to quote Greg, people have an awfully hard time groking it.
mike

On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 6:11 PM, Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <pmocombe@mocombeian.com
> wrote:

> Class is an unspoken topic in America's protestant social structure of
> class inequality.  William Julius Wilson caught hell for his 1970s book,
> "the declining significance of race," for making the argument that race is
> becoming less important vis-a-vis class in determining the life chances of
> black folk.
>
>
> Dr. Paul C. Mocombe
> President
> The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc.
> www.mocombeian.com
> www.readingroomcurriculum.com
> www.paulcmocombe.info
>
> <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Annalisa Aguilar <
> annalisa@unm.edu> </div><div>Date:12/08/2014  8:50 PM  (GMT-05:00)
> </div><div>To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l]  NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent
> </div><div>
> </div>Hello esteemed discussants,
>
>
> I am not normally a fan of David Brooks of the New York Times, but
> sometimes he really surprises me. This is one of those times:
>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html
> <
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&contentCollection=opinion&action=click&module=NextInCollection&region=Footer&pgtype=article
> >
>
>
> It has been my sense that we (as a culture, i.e., my American culture to
> which he refers) are more afraid to discuss class then we are to discuss
> race, and now it has become even harder, apparently.
>
>
> I particularly took to this paragraph:
>
>
> "Widening class distances produce class prejudice, classism. This is a
> prejudice based on visceral attitudes about competence. People in the
> "respectable" class have meritocratic virtues: executive function, grit, a
> capacity for delayed gratification. The view about those in the untouchable
> world is that they are short on these things. They are disorganized. They
> are violent and scary. This belief has some grains of truth because of
> childhood trauma, the stress of poverty and other things. But this view
> metastasizes into a vicious, intellectually lazy stereotype. Before long,
> animalistic imagery is used to describe these human beings."
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> Annalisa
>
>
>


-- 
It is the dilemma of psychology to deal with a natural science with an
object that creates history. Ernst Boesch.