tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post5944585653232562914..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: THIS ISTHMUS OF A MIDDLE STATERobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-83506675270233509982014-09-09T05:32:23.278-04:002014-09-09T05:32:23.278-04:00I think you are correct. My statement was too str...I think you are correct. My statement was too strong. I should have said that the SES-classification does not give us the same deep insight into the structure of the society that the old class analysis does. But you are right that there are all manner of things that can be predicted from SES [such as residential location, say.] Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-3241284845155792822014-09-09T01:25:06.061-04:002014-09-09T01:25:06.061-04:00'No matter where you choose to draw the lines,...'No matter where you choose to draw the lines, the [SES-based] sub-groups of the population thus marked off do not at all consist of individuals who bear the same functional relationship to the organization of the economy. Hence the terms have only a descriptive use, no explanatory power whatsoever.' <br /><br />Surely this isn't true. If people perceive themselves in terms of SES-type classifications and form their political allegiances accordingly, these classifications may well have a derivative kind of explanatory power. John acts and votes in a certain way because he believes it is in his class-interests to do so. And if his class-conception derives correctly from a SES-based classification then that classification will help to explain his behavior as a political agent. <br /><br />Even though the division between Blues and Greens in the age of Justininan was pretty arbitrary this does not mean that a person's Hippodrome allegiances could not help explain either what they did or what happened to them thereafter. It certainly does not entail that these division had no impact on history. On the contrary we know that hey did.Charles Pigdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01131765562671298571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-27941462732524666112014-09-08T16:55:46.732-04:002014-09-08T16:55:46.732-04:00Very nice point, JR. I had not made that connecti...Very nice point, JR. I had not made that connection.<br /><br />Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-31056718386927005062014-09-08T16:16:01.063-04:002014-09-08T16:16:01.063-04:00There is also, I think, often a ghost of Aristotle...There is also, I think, often a ghost of Aristotle involved in discussions of the "middle class." The Greeks (as you, of course, know) lived with a constant and often armed struggle between property classes. Aristotle stressed the importance of a middle class as a buffer to prevent the threat of "stasis." <br /><br />This notion tricked into popular political theory which is why speaking of the "vanishing middle class" is the only acceptable way to talk about inequality in America. <br /><br />How the middle class can contain everyone, and vanish at the same time, is not thought about too hard.<br /><br />Nor is Aristotle's solution of confiscating the wealth of people who acquire too much. . . for obvious reasons. J.R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06486343927258998646noreply@blogger.com