File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-11-17.131, message 13


Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 20:12:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Justin Schwartz <jschwart-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us>
Subject: Re: M-I: Racism, sexism, and class



I'm not a rational choice Marxist. Not all us analytical Marxists are. In
fact, not even all the famous ones are. Gerry Cohen isn't. Alan Wood
isn't. Richard Miller wasn't, when he was a Marxist. I do think rational
choice theory can be a useful tool if one is aware of its very severe
limitations.

Moreover, you don't have to reject neoclassical economics (a limited and
specific variant of RCT, or a theory sharing some main RCT assumpytions,
but by no means a commitment if one accepts RCT) to go in for the idea
that racism and sexism might be rational for capitalism. John Roemer, who
is a RC Marxist, has proved a divide and conquor theorem using strictly
NCE tools, showing that on a certain assumption set rational capitalists
will segregate workers into groups and pay one of those groups less in
order to apy them all less. 

However, the NCE have a point, which is reflected in the bourgeois
ideology of equality, that racism, or at least discrimination against some
groups (women, miniorities, what have you) is irrational on other
assumptions, viz., those shared by most standard versions of NCE.

If we bear in mind what models are supposed to do, pick out salient
features of a situation to suggest explanations or at least frame problems
for explanation, these results are not necessarily contradictory. As James
suggests, racism might be rational in some respect, say the long term, but
irrational in the short term--or vice versa; I'm not sure which he means.
Or it might be rational in depressing wage costs but irrational in harming
innovation. These hypotheses might be tested either by careful modelling
or empirical research or (best) both. As I;m not an economist, I am not
conmpetent to do this. Perhaps Barkley Rosser or someone who is a real
economist can comment.

--Justin


On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, James Farmelant wrote:

> 
> and the Marxian analyses of racism and sexism may be statements of the
> short term
> versus the longer term interests of capital.  That is discrimination may
> indeed be economically irrational for capitalists in the short run but
> rational from a longer term perspective.  This raises the question of
> what kinds od mechanisms exist in capitalist societies that can enforce
> the required class solidarity and longer term thinking to support racism
> and sexism as economically rational.  I wonder if Justin as a Rational
> Choice Marxist finds any sense in my argument.




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