Teemu Ruskeepää
29th December 2007, 10:11
I'm a first year student of Sociology at the University of Lapland. I've developed a theory about capitalism, with influences from Marx, various sociological literature, Pierre Bourdieu, the Socialist Party of Great Britain http://www.worldsocialism.org/principles.php, communitarianism, individualism and direct democracy. Because present internet forums are impractical, I'm going to summarize. I've used Youtube as an outlet and developed my theory there. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0A251F558A03377A and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb7Fn8hEDzg
Summary: Capitalism does not mean hegemony over the means of production but hegemony over any form of capital. Pierre Bourdieu has demonstrated that economic capital, knowledge capital, skill capital, rank capital and social connections capital are constantly fought over, switched between, are the weapon of violent oppression and form the classes of the society, not just based of the control over the means of production, but control over any of the types.
Shortly, capitalism is a cultural form, which has existed since the stone age, where the capitals are used to take away the capital others possess. Capital is the different forms of social action, which produce influence over other people, and it exists in everything social. Socialism on the other hand, is a cultural form, where the capitals are used to make others gain capital.
Every social action holds some or all types of capital, which influences other people. In capitalism, the capital becomes exclusive because the others are regarded as enemies. Capitalism is way of conduct to incapacitate others, thus a violent way of suppression, and the social classes are the representation of similar type and amount of capital possessed by a group of people.
Marx said that the History is the history of class struggle. In my view, it is the struggle over the hegemony of capital in a culture which conditionalizes others as enemies. That's why socialism means the end of all wars, because once individuals regard each other as recipients of capital and not a threat to selfishly possessed capital, all violence would have been replaced by peaceful social action and the promotion of individual abilities.
Socialism doesn't mean a new economic model, since it creates new classes based on symbolic capital. Marx was right in a limited sense. It was not about that his theory about the predicament of the working class proved exactly what was wrong with the Industrial Society and that the oppression could stop through their empowerment with the control of the economic capital. Marx's theory only proved that this particular type of capitalism exists. Pierre Bourdieu has expanded that theory and demonstrated that capitalist oppression has also a symbolic aspect. The true end of class stratification results from careful and particular eradication of discrimination in all types of capital.
Summary: Capitalism does not mean hegemony over the means of production but hegemony over any form of capital. Pierre Bourdieu has demonstrated that economic capital, knowledge capital, skill capital, rank capital and social connections capital are constantly fought over, switched between, are the weapon of violent oppression and form the classes of the society, not just based of the control over the means of production, but control over any of the types.
Shortly, capitalism is a cultural form, which has existed since the stone age, where the capitals are used to take away the capital others possess. Capital is the different forms of social action, which produce influence over other people, and it exists in everything social. Socialism on the other hand, is a cultural form, where the capitals are used to make others gain capital.
Every social action holds some or all types of capital, which influences other people. In capitalism, the capital becomes exclusive because the others are regarded as enemies. Capitalism is way of conduct to incapacitate others, thus a violent way of suppression, and the social classes are the representation of similar type and amount of capital possessed by a group of people.
Marx said that the History is the history of class struggle. In my view, it is the struggle over the hegemony of capital in a culture which conditionalizes others as enemies. That's why socialism means the end of all wars, because once individuals regard each other as recipients of capital and not a threat to selfishly possessed capital, all violence would have been replaced by peaceful social action and the promotion of individual abilities.
Socialism doesn't mean a new economic model, since it creates new classes based on symbolic capital. Marx was right in a limited sense. It was not about that his theory about the predicament of the working class proved exactly what was wrong with the Industrial Society and that the oppression could stop through their empowerment with the control of the economic capital. Marx's theory only proved that this particular type of capitalism exists. Pierre Bourdieu has expanded that theory and demonstrated that capitalist oppression has also a symbolic aspect. The true end of class stratification results from careful and particular eradication of discrimination in all types of capital.