PHL323H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Microstructure, Wage Slavery, British Thermal Unit

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26 May 2018
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Race and Resistance (II)
The Black proletariat is a ‘Lumpenproletariat’, unlike the White proletariat
which is working-class.
The Black Panther Party interprets Marxism-Leninism through the lens of 400
years of Black experience.
Why could the notion of race matter to thinking about oppression and
resistance?
Some groups are oppressed because they are members of a given race,
and some groups unite in resistance because they are all members of a
given race
Assume racial categories are real, objective categories of the world like
species, etc.
A person could be a target for oppression because of their race
People have conscious beliefs that the oppressed group is inferior
to their race
§
A person could be entitled to join a resistance movement only if they
are of a certain race
The notion of race can also be appealed to in more positive ways
DuBois claimed that Negro people have a contribution to make to
civilisation and humanity which no other race can make
All celebrations of race require a realist notion of race
Assuming people fall into racial categories
But are we entitled to this notion? What is race?
Biological
1)
Cultural
2)
There are none
3)
"common sense: - race in inherited, biological parental origin
Does looking like you're from a certain race doesn't mean you are from
that race unless your parents were from that race
In 19th century, most biologists thought physical characteristics were
indications of difference in intellectual, moral capacities, etc.
This changed by 20th century
Genetic constitution: the chance of two people having a different genetic
constitution at a given point on a chromosome is
14.3%, if chosen from the same ‘race’ (e.g. Caucasoid)
14.8%, if chosen from distinct ‘races’.
That’s a 0.5% difference.
There are not very many genetic characteristics to be found in white
people that can't be found in black people
differences between peoples in language, moral affections, aesthetic
attitudes, or political ideology ... are not to any significant degree
biologically determined
Objection: our ability to acquire language is biologically
determined.
Answer: that’s right, but when it comes to the biological explanation of
our ability to acquire language, if biological difference between humans
doesn’t matter, then racial difference can’t matter either.
So where did this idea even come from if there is no proof for it?
Scientific method: we start by categorising things by how they look
But as science progressed, we categorise things by their unobservable
microstructure
But the phenomena in terms of hidden structure does not preserve the
reality of all phenomenal properties
Limit case: We cannot state the physical laws of nature in terms of
phenomenal properties (colours, tastes, smells etc.).
This is what happened with race: the move to the hidden structure
(genetics) failed to reveal a part of that structure particular to race.
Biologists will say that, if there are races, there's only like 2 or 3
And there's no way to connect someone's genetics to their intellect or
morality
This gives racists nothing to hate
DuBois said we don't need a biological notion of race because it has nothing
to do with the fact that everywhere some groups of people are using control
of physical and economic force to hinder other groups’ flourishing
In this case, we should speak to 'civilisation' instead of race
Stalin’s definition of a nation: “a historically constituted, stable community of
people, formed on the basis of common language, territory, economic life,
and a psychological makeup manifested in common culture.” – Congress of
African People, ‘The Black Nation Thesis’, p.396.
If we do adopt this socio-cultural notion of race, can we still have Pan-
Africanism, the idea that the civilisation comprised of all black people has a
unique contribution to make?
No, there is no civilisation shared by everyone
No history, culture, or language is unique to all of them
Further problem: supposed that race A = race B if and only if A and B
share a common history.
Then, we need to know which sequence of events are A’s history
and which are B’s history to tell whether A = B.
§
But to tell which sequence of events are A’s history, we need to
know which race A is – in particular, whether it is the same race
as B.
§
We have gone in a circle
§
Having a common history (or participating in a ‘common
disaster’) are products of being the same race, not criteria for it.
§
Appiah: DuBois doesn’t actually escape the notion of race,
despite his explicit disavowal of it.
§
What about the civilisation comprised of all non-white people?
No, for the same reasons
§
Looks like the notion of race is out of the picture, biologically and socio-
culturally
Appiah: there is no objective feature of the world that can play all the roles
that we want the notion of race to play.
We should just speak of civilisation instead of race
This gets disagreed with by people on both ends of the spectrum
Civilizations are ‘socially constructed’ – if we didn’t have society, we
wouldn’t have civilization.
Colour, shape, etc. are not socially constructed, we would still have them if
we lived in isolation
But the idea of civilisation is socially constructed, we would not have it
in isolation
People don’t like this because they think it implies that race is not real
Btu it just means that its existence includes the existence of a relevant
society
Just because in Canada, we drive on the side of the road because it is
socially constructed, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t drive on the right side
of the road
And we can use social constructions to give explanations
Just not to explain basic facts about societies whose existence they
depend on
That would be circular
§
We can still ask how the notion of a socially constructed
‘civilization’ can unite people into a resistance group.
One answer (Harrison, ‘What Socialism Means to Us’): chattel slavery
has, under the guide of capitalism, turned into wage slavery.
Slavery is not via ownership of the person, but ownership of the ways
of making a living.
He thinks wage slavery is actually worse because it is in the best
interest of traditional slave owner's to make sure their slaves are fed,
and clothed and sheltered, but wage slave owners have no such
obligation
It oppresses everyone, but it oppresses Black people even more
Their skin colour marks what they once were
It is a gross physical feature and is genetically transmitted
But not all black people are descended from slaves
But they all bear the badge of those descended from slaves
So it is not common history that unites ‘race’ (in the sense we’re interested
in), and identity of genetic race does not entail any of the culturally
interesting features of race.
But one’s genetic race does badge one the same as someone whose
history is one of chattel slavery.
And this singles one out as a target of oppression.
Lecture 7
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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Document Summary

The black proletariat is a lumpenproletariat", unlike the white proletariat which is working-class. The black panther party interprets marxism-leninism through the lens of 400 years of black experience. Some groups are oppressed because they are members of a given race, and some groups unite in resistance because they are all members of a given race. Assume racial categories are real, objective categories of the world like species, etc. A person could be a target for oppression because of their race. People have conscious beliefs that the oppressed group is inferior to their race. A person could be entitled to join a resistance movement only if they are of a certain race. The notion of race can also be appealed to in more positive ways. Dubois claimed that negro people have a contribution to make to civilisation and humanity which no other race can make. All celebrations of race require a realist notion of race.

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