Racism, Sexism, and Critical Theory
So its been a really, really long time since I have posted anything. But, while writing this post for a class I decided to share it to a broader audience. So here it is.
While reading about race in chapter 10 I started thinking about the links in Marxism that lead to issues presented in the chapter.
It is my belief that racism, as well as sexism, has become inexorably linked to the market economy. I will prove this, in breif, in the following way, and then make the link toward education.
For the market economy of the nation to exist there is a need for there to be a percentage of the population to be under-employed or unemployed. By maintaing this percentage the market is able to keep wages down due to the competition between working age individuals. If the percentage gets to low the companies will be forced to pay more to attach workers, thus cutting profits. This maintaining of under and unemployed percentage plays a role in the alienation that occurs within the market. The individual is on longer a person, rather he or she is a number that merely plays a role in the profitability of a company. If you start costing to much, well, it may be time for you to go. That said, the market must not let the percentage get to high, so you can't get rid of everyone. Now all of this is not new thinking. Marx makes it all clear in the Communist Manifesto (Marx 1978). (Another good read is Das Kapital)
Now that problem can be resolved if you happen to have a group of individuals that you can restrict from the working pool, restrict their access to education, and in general limit their role in the market, you have a built in percentage of under and unemployed. It is then beneficial to the market to maintain distasteful and morally degrading policies that limit access to people because of their race or sex. Now, this racism may not in of itself be motivated by prejudice toward a persons race or sex, but it does take advantage of social prejudices toward both. By acknowledging this we can come to understand many of the criticisms that Merriam calls light to in the chapter.
Merriam observes the "fact that Blacks and other people of color are underrepresented in all types of adult education" (Merriam et al. 2007, p. 244). Is it no wonder then that this is the case? All one has to do is look at the cost of higher education, the application process, and the many other road blocks that are set up. No doubt too, as is also pointed out, that part of the problem is the apparent lack of interest of institutes of higher learning to come to grips with external, and internal, pressure to remain apolitical. All of this, of course, pertains to issues with sexism as well.
To change things we must change our ways as instructors, we must focus on emancipatory education as much as the technological. But first, we must break down the walls that are limiting access to that education.
"If the proletariat during its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled, by the force of circumstances, to organize itself as a class, if, by means of a revolution, ti makes itself the ruling class, and, as such, sweeps away by force the old conditions of production, then it will, along with theses conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of the class antagonisms and of the classes generally..." " In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all" (Marx, 1978 p. 491).
Marx, K., Engels, F. (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition. R. C. Tucker (ed). New York, NY. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Two PFDs for your reading.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-I.pdf
Sincerely, your token Marxist.
While reading about race in chapter 10 I started thinking about the links in Marxism that lead to issues presented in the chapter.
It is my belief that racism, as well as sexism, has become inexorably linked to the market economy. I will prove this, in breif, in the following way, and then make the link toward education.
For the market economy of the nation to exist there is a need for there to be a percentage of the population to be under-employed or unemployed. By maintaing this percentage the market is able to keep wages down due to the competition between working age individuals. If the percentage gets to low the companies will be forced to pay more to attach workers, thus cutting profits. This maintaining of under and unemployed percentage plays a role in the alienation that occurs within the market. The individual is on longer a person, rather he or she is a number that merely plays a role in the profitability of a company. If you start costing to much, well, it may be time for you to go. That said, the market must not let the percentage get to high, so you can't get rid of everyone. Now all of this is not new thinking. Marx makes it all clear in the Communist Manifesto (Marx 1978). (Another good read is Das Kapital)
Now that problem can be resolved if you happen to have a group of individuals that you can restrict from the working pool, restrict their access to education, and in general limit their role in the market, you have a built in percentage of under and unemployed. It is then beneficial to the market to maintain distasteful and morally degrading policies that limit access to people because of their race or sex. Now, this racism may not in of itself be motivated by prejudice toward a persons race or sex, but it does take advantage of social prejudices toward both. By acknowledging this we can come to understand many of the criticisms that Merriam calls light to in the chapter.
Merriam observes the "fact that Blacks and other people of color are underrepresented in all types of adult education" (Merriam et al. 2007, p. 244). Is it no wonder then that this is the case? All one has to do is look at the cost of higher education, the application process, and the many other road blocks that are set up. No doubt too, as is also pointed out, that part of the problem is the apparent lack of interest of institutes of higher learning to come to grips with external, and internal, pressure to remain apolitical. All of this, of course, pertains to issues with sexism as well.
To change things we must change our ways as instructors, we must focus on emancipatory education as much as the technological. But first, we must break down the walls that are limiting access to that education.
"If the proletariat during its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled, by the force of circumstances, to organize itself as a class, if, by means of a revolution, ti makes itself the ruling class, and, as such, sweeps away by force the old conditions of production, then it will, along with theses conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of the class antagonisms and of the classes generally..." " In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all" (Marx, 1978 p. 491).
Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S., Baumgartner, L.M. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass
Marx, K., Engels, F. (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition. R. C. Tucker (ed). New York, NY. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Two PFDs for your reading.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-I.pdf
Sincerely, your token Marxist.
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