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So as you may have noticed I've been talking about race a lot recently, plus a bit about gender and sexuality and other stuff like that.
One thing I tend not to talk about, at least not in top level comments, is class. It's not that I don't care, but I don't really have the language to talk about it: thanks to the vagaries of my upbringing I have fairly extreme left wing views which mean I get annoyed by mainstream (or right wing) analysis, but since pretty much everything I know I got by osmosis I'm not up with all the technical terminology etc that other people with similar views might have, and also 99% of the stuff I've read sets off my "Annoying socialist propaganda" alarms and pisses me off too much for me to keep reading.
So does anyone have advice for resources that might help me get a more deep and educated understanding (as well as figuring out quite where I stand) that's unlikely to either assume I've got an arts degree (or want one) or be thinly veiled propaganda for the authors views on how things should be rather than an attempt at an objective understanding of how things are? Bonus points for intersectionality.
Where I'm coming from and what annoys me: My maternal grandparents are ex-communist socialists, and my parents staunch Labour voters. In recent years my dad has become more of a radical lefty and started spouting conspiracy theories about the Capitalist Oligarchy. At his worst he starts sounding like this guy. So I grew up surrounded by a left wing view of the world, with my mum's more moderate views in mild conflict with my grandparents and now fathers. Since every time I talk to my father about race/gender etc he ALWAYS tries to turn it into proof of how Capitalism Ruins Everything and It's All Really About Class I have very little patience for that sort of one-eyed thinking, as well as the general tendency for socialists to reject facts and interpretations which don't fit the One True Vision, or to answer any question about "How do we fix this particular social ill?" with "ABOLISH CAPITALISM". (I'm not sure capitalism needs to be abolished anyway, but even if it does that's not going to happen any time soon, we need to engage with the world as it is not wait until we reach utopia before we start worrying about injustices happening now) See also Why I am not a socialist.
I've been pondering reading some Marx to at least get a feel for the classics, especially since people keep quoting him, but it's hardly up to date.
I kind of feel like someone from a fundamentalist background trying to go on a spiritual journey :)
One thing I tend not to talk about, at least not in top level comments, is class. It's not that I don't care, but I don't really have the language to talk about it: thanks to the vagaries of my upbringing I have fairly extreme left wing views which mean I get annoyed by mainstream (or right wing) analysis, but since pretty much everything I know I got by osmosis I'm not up with all the technical terminology etc that other people with similar views might have, and also 99% of the stuff I've read sets off my "Annoying socialist propaganda" alarms and pisses me off too much for me to keep reading.
So does anyone have advice for resources that might help me get a more deep and educated understanding (as well as figuring out quite where I stand) that's unlikely to either assume I've got an arts degree (or want one) or be thinly veiled propaganda for the authors views on how things should be rather than an attempt at an objective understanding of how things are? Bonus points for intersectionality.
Where I'm coming from and what annoys me: My maternal grandparents are ex-communist socialists, and my parents staunch Labour voters. In recent years my dad has become more of a radical lefty and started spouting conspiracy theories about the Capitalist Oligarchy. At his worst he starts sounding like this guy. So I grew up surrounded by a left wing view of the world, with my mum's more moderate views in mild conflict with my grandparents and now fathers. Since every time I talk to my father about race/gender etc he ALWAYS tries to turn it into proof of how Capitalism Ruins Everything and It's All Really About Class I have very little patience for that sort of one-eyed thinking, as well as the general tendency for socialists to reject facts and interpretations which don't fit the One True Vision, or to answer any question about "How do we fix this particular social ill?" with "ABOLISH CAPITALISM". (I'm not sure capitalism needs to be abolished anyway, but even if it does that's not going to happen any time soon, we need to engage with the world as it is not wait until we reach utopia before we start worrying about injustices happening now) See also Why I am not a socialist.
I've been pondering reading some Marx to at least get a feel for the classics, especially since people keep quoting him, but it's hardly up to date.
I kind of feel like someone from a fundamentalist background trying to go on a spiritual journey :)
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Oh god yes, don't get me started. My dad, with his "Sexism started in the industrial revolution when women were pressured into working by capitalist factory owners". ACTUALLY THERE WAS SEXISM BEFORE THEN MAYBE A LITTLE BIT.
*cough*
no subject
ACTUALLY THERE WAS SEXISM BEFORE THEN MAYBE A LITTLE BIT.
Oy...*facepalms*