Lumpen Bourgeois
4th May 2009, 00:59
In regards to left-politics, does culture, as defined as the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group, matter at all?
What do I mean by "matter"? Well, does culture prevent certain societies or people from progressing or accepting new ideas? Are certain cultures incompatible with or indisposed to certain economic systems(socialism, capitalism, etc.)? Does it affect society in any significant way?
Free market capitalists, for example, argue that their particular neoliberal economic policies in the Middle East fail because of the Muslim's religious aversion to usury.
Most here, I'm guessing, will probably say no to the question posed. Material conditions (environment) are what matter. Cultures are much too difficult to define.
But judging from the unalloyed hatred of religion(an aspect of culture) among several leftists, I'm not entirely sure.
What do I mean by "matter"? Well, does culture prevent certain societies or people from progressing or accepting new ideas? Are certain cultures incompatible with or indisposed to certain economic systems(socialism, capitalism, etc.)? Does it affect society in any significant way?
Free market capitalists, for example, argue that their particular neoliberal economic policies in the Middle East fail because of the Muslim's religious aversion to usury.
Most here, I'm guessing, will probably say no to the question posed. Material conditions (environment) are what matter. Cultures are much too difficult to define.
But judging from the unalloyed hatred of religion(an aspect of culture) among several leftists, I'm not entirely sure.