Paul Baran was a social scientist/Marxist
Marx could explain:
a. Why societies change
b. on the origin of development of capitalist society
c. the transformation of capitalist to socialist society
Marx’s approach
a. ask important questions
b. seek out significant relationships between numerous social and economic phenomena
c. approach problems as Marx would (obvious)
d. re-examine society including new developments and facts
A Fine Intellectual: characteristics
a. brilliance, restless curiosity
b. a well-trained and well-equipped mind
c. Russian, German, and Anglo-American culture strengthened his analytical powers
d. passionate: in the search of truth!
e. social responsibility: write to criticize the evils of imperialism
f. insists on the need for change in the world
g. philosophers need to do more than interpret the world
problems
a. passion can interfere with objectivity
b. overly objective courses: will not take a critical stance about established institutions
A fighter!
a. for the progress of man
b. for knowledge
c. for the defeat of irrationality
The Quality of Baran’s Thought
a. an original thinker cannot be given a label such as Marxist
b. typical academic economics does not tackle major problems in capitalist society
c. “social science should tackle not dodge central issues.”(22)
d. capitalism is a developing organism
e. capitalist society must be distinguished from all other previous societies
f. a critical approach is required
Mysticism
a. a single formula to describe many social, economic, political, culture phenomena simultaneously
b. a never-ending approach to synthesis is required
Problem with traditional institutions
a. separate disciples do not allow overlap of subject matter
b. all subjects are inter-related
A Better Approach
a. economists can learn from sociologists
b. sociologists can learn from political scientists
c. psychoanalysis can be utilized as an inspiration
d. contempt for complacency
e. sense of irony
f. hatred of sham & irrationality
Reason
a. Baran didn’t believe in Satan
b. objective reason was not god-given or independent of man
c. objective reason was a product of man, anchored in man’s expanding and deepening understanding of nature & society
d. the pursuit of reason led to concrete explorations & practical exploitation of the natural conditions of progress.
e. irrationality must be fought because otherwise man cannot improve his lot
Failures of Bourgeois Economics
a. a market does not operate rationally
b. unions and governments interfere with the market
c. the market is not the highest form of man’s wisdom
d. markets are irrational!
e. how can markets be rational if economic institutions produce industrial advanced nations & continually underdeveloped nations?
f. modern economic theory doesn’t question fundamental assumptions
g. concern for ills but not causes is problematic!
Various Economists
a. Ricardo/John Stuart Mill: market equilibrium: how does it occur?
b. Keynes: analyzed business fluctuations, avoided issues of secular growth and decline
Socialism
a. develop productive resources
b. fight imperialism
c. help underdeveloped countries develop
d. a conservative middle class limits what socialists are able to do
Are markets rational?
a. customary markets can be disturbed by revolutions
b. a revolution can hurt markets but insure certain segments of the population have certain resources
c. a high growth rate within an economy can still leave certain segments of the population without certain needed resources
Censorship
a. British economic magazines would not publish Baran’s article: “On the Political Economy of Backwardness,” because it questioned the assumption that it is good for some nations to be advanced while others are underdeveloped
Solving Social Problems
a. economic/social analysis provides the most effective apparatus for understanding the problems of economic development
b. society is a developing organism
c. it is unscientific to assume that the progression from feudalism to capitalism to socialism is the necessary course of events that must occur
Assumptions
a. important sections of the bourgeoisie will fight for political independence & will support measures to break free from economic imperialism
b. economic independence can be achieved without disrupting or destroying the trade channels, financial institutions,, and the market relations on which the independence striving bourgeoisie depend for their prosperity
c. remove imperialist domination/feudal fetters> rapid industrialization can occur under state protected monopolies
d. imperialism can be removed through the revolutionary participation of the oppressed classes
Baran’s Analysis of Underdevelopment
a. the analysis of monopoly capitalism in the USA
Marx had a theory to explain
a. the historical development of capital itself and its change from merchant to industrial capital
b. the distribution of incomes and the struggles over distribution of income
c. the nature and limits of the economic & political struggle over the length of the working day and conditions of work in the factory
d. the rise of productivity and the advance of technology
e. the drive to accumulate capital from historical origin in primary accumulation to its position as the controlling force in expansion/contraction in capitalist economy
Improvement
a. surplus must be used to meet the needs of the people
Slow Improvement?
a. rapid population growth
b. corruption in government
c. squandering of resources by local oligarchy
Real Improvement:
a. large investments in construction & machinery
b. long-term planning
c. & overcoming tradition-bound patterns of work and thought
d. these shift a nation into high gear & increase the output, industrial capacity, and promote a rise in living conditions
e. socialist planning
Political Independence:
a. the right to choose an imperialist is not much of a right at all
b. imperialism is difficult to remove politically
Best
a. development over stagnation
b. growth over decay
c. culture over barbarism
d. reason over myth
e. “humanity’s claim to life, development and happiness requires no justification”
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