Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 15:51:32 -0600
From: "Michael J. M. Maranda" <mjmarand-AT-midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: who's here?  


I'm here lurking.

I like what you wrote in terms of a description of the way things are...
not that I like them, but rather I find the description accurate, if
depressing.  

I wonder if Lyotard writes anything making reference to James Coleman, who
in The Asymmetric Society contrasts natural persons and corporate actors.

That contrast seems to underlie a lot of the tension in your description.

As I read through the description....  I was struck by the thought Why
Theory/Academia?
It seems that there is a certain futility to it, as well as an impotence.
This is in part hidden behind all the "freedom" of inquiry.  So many people
pursuing so many questions...  Anyone can pursue whatever topic they want
to, practically.  Maybe.  But I think this freedom hides from us the
seriousness of our situation (which you describe).  This hiding, is a
hiding from ourselves... We dont want to face it, and we dont want to face
our relative powerlessness.

With my reference to James Coleman you may hear strains of the Chicago
School.  The contrast dran out in the book above is traceable to Park and
Burgess textbook.  Despite what I take to be rather depressing
circumstances, I feel a balance of hope.  But it isnt a mindless hope.  It
is a hope thgat recognizes that I too play a role in what will occur, and
that all is not written.
This is an echo of Park and Burgess.  With positivism there was
progressivism and general hope for the future.  New techniques,
technologies and forms arise and grow in power.  This was clear with the
rise of corporations and the corporate actor--an example of this.  With
this newness, as with new forms of communication, power shifts and
accumulates in new and different ways.  In a sense it takes a while for
humanity to catch up with this increased potential.  And by no means is it
guaranteed that humanity will do so, or how quickly it will do so...  I
think that though we have had corporations for quite a while, they are
still growing in power and potential, and this makes it difficult to
humanize these new power relations.  First we have to recognize that we can
do so.  This is a serious obstacle.  If we dont think we can, we wont.


_______________________________________________
Michael J. M. Maranda
U of Chicago-Dept. of Sociology
M-Maranda-AT-uchicago.edu
mjmarand-AT-midway.uchicago.edu
http://student-www.uchicago.edu/users/mjmarand/