Mickey Kaus has some interesting reflections on the link between economic reductionism and condescension, inspired of course, by Obama's Bittergate. He distinguishes between various versions of the former, and then admits to condescending views of his own.
The problem for me is that I'm a Vulgar Marxist too. I've always believed that people need to eat, and want to get ahead and prosper. If you give them an avenue that lets them do that, they aren't going to let their religion, their music, their sexual habits, their families or their educational system stand in their way for long. The two most obvious contemporary applications of this economic determinism are 1) China (when the Chinese have a capitalist economy they won't be able to have a Communist government, Vulgar Marxists would say) and 2) the Muslim world (if Islam needs a Reformation in order to prosper in a global market, then Islam will eventually get a Reformation). I agree with both of those propositions.
1) There is a bit of confusion here. Vulgar Marxists are not only condescending but naive: they think that Mom and Dad and Grandpa are stupid for holding religious views that support the ruling class, and that they could easily abandon these views if they were only as smart and as good as, say, a nineteen year olds sociology major. A sophisticated Marxist will say that the views supporting the class structure may be indispensable in a given socio-economic environment, and that those views look perfectly correct from a certain point of view. This is less insulting and naive than the vulgar view, but it is still condescending. It implies that the Marxist, by virtue of his superior knowledge, can see through others in a way that they do cannot see through him.
2) Can I hold the view that person A believes idea B for reasons that I perceive but he does or cannot perceive, without being condescending? Not on that particular topic. But I can take such a view of another without claiming to be a wiser or better person in general. We all may have some blind spots, and it may be obvious to every idiot but me that Mary is playing me for a fool.
3) There is nothing condescending in the view that a communist government cannot survive indefinitely in a capitalist system, or that a Muslim country has to adopt a modern banking system if it wants a modern economy. Those are views are about matters of fact, and intelligent people can take opposite views about them without looking down on one another. It would only be condescending of Kaus if he were to say that the communists or the Muslims can't see the truth of their situations in a way that he can.
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