[Marxism] The transition to capitalism: is it in our genes?

[Sayan Bhattacharyya]

On 8/8/07, Lajany Otum <lajany_otum at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Oh yeah, the British Empire was built on the middle class values of non-violence,
> literacy and long working hours.... I don't suppose either the author or the
> Joker who forwarded this shit had in mind the long working hours of the slaves
> on plantations in in the West Indies, or the children working the English mines,

I'm sure you realize that there is a distinction between institutional
violence and individual violence?

Let's re-read: "The change was one in which people gradually developed
the strange new behaviors required to make a modern economy work. The
middle-class values of nonviolence, literacy, long working hours and a
willingness to save emerged only recently in human history, Dr. Clark
argues."

He's talking about *individual people* developing these new behaviors.
That is certainly true.

Individual behaviors don't always reflect violence at the state level.
Nowadays, for example, far fewer Americans spank their children
compared to two centuries ago. Yet, at the state level, the US wrecks
far more violence on the world stage than it used to two centuries
ago.