• carbohydra [des/pair]
      ·
      3 years ago

      it doesn't help that Marx himself delineated several types of value and then explicitly just said "uh this gets weird let's just treat all of these as the same for the next few tomes"

        • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          I like to explain what a social construct is by saying that law and money are social constructs. They may not be things that naturally exist and are purely artificial, but they both have very real impact on everyone's lives.

        • ComradeBongwater [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I prefer to use the phrase "X is socially constructed" over "X is a social construct" because it implies human action is responsible and is ongoing

    • Ithorian [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah the terminology is rough. Trying to define words while at the same time explaining concepts just muddles the whole argument. I think there is a strong case to be made for Capital and The Conquest of Bread to be revised into modern terminology/concepts and lay speak.

      • NephewAlphaBravo [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        We really need to perma-pin a thread full of good, modern theory. Stuff that's still truly radical, but easier to digest than eight thousand pages about linen.

        • Ithorian [comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Strong agree with that, I have some friends that are baby leftist but getting them to read hundred year old books isn't going to happen. If you have some recommendations that would be great.

          • PeterTheAverage [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            The Jakarta Method, The Divide, People's Republic of Walmart, Blackshirts & Reds, The New Jim Crow, Bullshit Jobs

            • Ithorian [comrade/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Thanks! I've read blacks shirts and reds, and have been meaning to read bullshit jobs for a while. The rest of these I hadn't even heard of.

              • PeterTheAverage [he/him]
                ·
                edit-2
                3 years ago

                The Divide is all about the historical and current reasons for the gap between the first and third world, goes into how the Global South develops the imperial core countries and how they are prevented from escaping that trap. It's a short and easy read and also goes into how the Neoliberal proclamations of poverty reduction are all hot air.

                People's Republic of Walmart is also a short and easy read, and goes into how centrally planned most of the economy is even in the US, and how extensive it is in companies like Walmart and Amazon.

                The New Jim Crow talks about the systemic racism in our prison system and how even more entrenched it is than Jim Crow in the past because of how difficult it is to even advocate for basic prison reforms because of how politically toxic it is to show even the smallest compassion for the plight of prisoners or ex-cons.

                The Jakarta Method is about the slaughter of over a million communists in Indonesia under General Suharto and how the CIA was closely involved with the entire thing. It's completely heartbreaking and a perfect book to show how America has never cared about human rights and how communists are never allowed to just exist peacefully.

        • PeterTheAverage [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Maybe something like Jason Hickel's The Divide? It's a relatively short read, it's not difficult, and it does a great job of explaining why the current divide between the first and third world exists and has some possible and not entirely unrealistic but still radical solutions for it.

        • ElGosso [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          This exists but I'm too lazy to dig through Breadtube to find it