Subject: BHA: Re: RTS ch3 s4 and other things
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 20:22:48 +0200


Hi Colin--

Congrats on finishing!

I didn't have any notion of blind rule-following in mind when speaking of
the unintentional reproduction of social relations, though I can imagine how
that idea might be introduced.  But I would concur with Bourdieu's critique.
And in any case, rule-following and relation-reproduction are independent.
One could imagine a rule which, when followed, would tend more to transform
rather than reproduce current social relations (maybe "don't cross picket
lines," "pay women more than men," etc), and rule-violations that sustain
current social relations (e.g. "Presidents shouldn't philander"?).

However, I think it *is* possible to follow a rule "blindly," if that means
"uncritically" (rather than "unconsciously").  In fact people do that a lot.
For some people, an example might be the rule that sexual partners "must" be
of the opposite sex.  Of course, there are other rules which basically must
be followed, critically or not--say, the rules for forming plurals in
English--but I don't think those are what you have in mind.

Cheers 'n' beers, T.

---
Tobin Nellhaus
nellhaus-AT-gwi.net *or* tobin.nellhaus-AT-helsinki.fi
"Faith requires us to be materialists without flinching": C.S. Peirce




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