[Marxism] Free online access to Critical Sociology and Why dieoffism?

[Barry Brooks]

until the 15th of April
Free online access to Critical Sociology
http://sage-news.msgfocus.com/q/12hfA19pOetVZ/wv

SAGE are pleased to announce that they 
will be publishing Critical Sociology in 
2008 onwards. In celebration of this 
partnership we are offering you free 
full-text online access to the journal 
until the 15th of April 2008. No 
registration is required.


I liked this one...
http://crs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/34/1/117.pdf
T. William Greene
Three Ideologies of Individualism: 
Toward Assimilating a Theory of 
Individualisms and their Consequences
     Crit Sociol 2008 34: 117-137.


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To show that capitalism 'needs' growth 
we must find at least one feature that
mandates growth. We must separate
features that mandate growth from
features that drive growth.

While there are many features that drive
growth, the main feature that mandates
growth is rarely prominent in the debate.

Yes, more profit is desired and drives
growth, but a business can operate very
well with just adequate profits, which
do not need to grow for that business to 
continue.

All the arguments about seeking profit
and increasing capital are not 
attributes required by capitalism but 
merely things desired by capitalists.

Do they really NEED a greater profit
rate, or do they really just need enough
to operate and survive? They may want
more, but that is not a mandate. The
mere desire for growth/plunder could be
denied if capital did not rule.

Capitalists may automate to fight 
workers, to increase profit, or to
compete, but those features are drivers;
not mandates for growth in themselves.

Growth has been necessary to compensate 
for unemployment caused by automation. 
Any automating system would need growth 
to make jobs so long as its system, 
class or otherwise, has wage dependence. 
Automating capitalism needs growth to 
create jobs, because without something 
close to full employment the system will 
face real change.

When automation creates unemployment, 
there is a workable alternative to 
growth, but it is taboo to right and 
left. Instead of using machines to 
produce more, we could work less.

Socialism could end growth simply, since 
the people would already have capital.
If socialism ended growth it would be 
communism.

Capitalism could end growth too if 
people had capital. Probably dieoffism 
will never reach the stage of survivism.

Barry
http://home.earthlink.net/~durable/