The left over the next few years will not be as disciplined and univocal, but there's no reason why we should be at each other's throats. We have to build institutions that can act as clearing houses for ideas and experiences, and we must put our networks on a firmer footing. Crucial to the project of cohering ourselves is the building of a new media. This means finding people who are willing to do it, and give them the means to make a living from it. This is why I'm asking readers to help support Politics Theory Other.
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I once had to produce a dissertation involving quantitative aspects of psychology - in particular,the concept of a construct. In this idea, a number of different aspects of behaviour are observed to cluster loosely together, and this cluster is considered to exist as a real entity rather than a random statistical association. Thus we construct a single entity from a group of separate observations. Construct is both a verb and a noun in this usage.
ReplyDeleteThe best known construct is Intelligance Quotient (IQ) - supposedly a single, intrinsic aspect of mind which determines most if not all mental capabilities. Taken together with the criminal deceptions of Sir Cyril Burt this led to the social and educational fracture of the British nation, the 11-plus.
Reading our host's remarks above on the LEFT, I wondered if he is not using another construct, and so laying himself open to some of the dangers associated therewith. We all know of the Left-Right axis: is it like the IQ axis with a single point above which you go to Grammar School, or are there other axes orthogonal to L-R, just as were demonstrated with IQ?
"As long as capitalism persists, there will be a radical left to challenge it."
ReplyDeleteRadical left, do me a favour. You couldn't give a shit about Assange for example. you say next to nothing about global issues. You are just an Yvette Cooper loving centrist.