A Justice Site
Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: March 1, 2002
Latest Update: March 1, 2002
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Marxist and/or Critical
Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individaul Authors, February 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.On Friday, March 1, 2002, Steve Winter posted on PSN:
Subject: Re: "Marxist Sociology" versus "Critical Sociology"Paul's comment reflects my own reservations about the ASA - as a sociologist from New Zealand, I have long pondered the wisdom or value of joining an association which seemed to offer a point of contact with USA colleagues (which I wished to have) but have always been unnerved by its refusal to represent a broad range of sociologies, particularly those that question the myths and contradicitons at the heart of American culture and society.
As a newcomer to PSN, I have read the postings with interest, but this is the first time I have felt inclined to respond because so much of it seemed to be theoretical posturings or breast beatings without any engagement with the world as I experience it from here. I am grateful to you Paul for provoking me to reflect on and consider my use of 'critical'.
However, while your posting expresses a legitimate expression of concern that changing the name of the section might undermine/ shrink the Marxist space in an institutional setting such as the ASA, I challenge your comment "critical thinking" abilities honestly translated is "how do we get students to think like us and view the world from our point of view."
This misrepresents the emancipatory ethos guiding the praxis of 'critical' sociologists which I interpret not as a flag declaring a dogmatic adherence to a particular theoretical position but as indicating that we are commited to being agents of social change. I see my role as equipping students with a toolbox of ideas and perspectives that they can draw on to think independently on issues which means being able to analyse the way power operates in specific contexts, situations and settings. That is quite the opposite to telling them how to think and what to think about. I want them to feel at home in engaging in the debates that affect us all as citizens, at all levels, and from a well-informed and considered position. What's wrong with having an opinion and expressing it? Isn't that the point of being in a democracy?
I value the neo-Marxist paradigm (by which I mean I understand economy and culture to be in dialectical relation as aspects of the social world) , in that it provides a means for critiquing and analysing the dynamics of capitalist hegemony in all its myriad forms. But this is a different thing to having to commit oneself to a 'one true path'. Being able to state I am a 'critical sociologist' if pressed to give a label to my position means I don't have to box myself in and limit the ideas, concepts and pserspectives I draw on in making sense of my experience of the world. I let others decide for themselves. I am not afraid to declare my contempt of the hypocrysies and injustices of the current global system but sociology isn't a religion and theory is a tool not dogma. Theories are tools which we use in our praxis as citizens and sociologists - why paralyse ourselves with labels, or name-calling for that matter. The bottom line is that we are all here together as human beings, social agents, citizens with an interest in social analysis and issues. The critical issue is what are we doing, RIGHT NOW, to help create a global culture of equality, opportunity, peace and freedom? We need to be aware of our own actions, how we treat each other and other beings in our daily lives. We need to cultivate a climate of free and open dialogue, foster a space in which people feel able to talk together and express their positions and ideas in a spirit of dialogical engagement rather than a discursive form of armed combat. Labels such as 'left', 'right', 'Marxist', 'neo-Marxist', 'postmodernist', feminist' etc. are what separates us from each other and paralyzes our capacity for solidarity and progressive actions.
arohanui to all PSN participants.
Pahmi