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    Michael Burawoy - Antinomian

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    24 views12 pages

    Michael Burawoy - Antinomian

    Uploaded by

    Alexander Elder
    Michael Burawoy - Antinomian

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    MICHAEL BURAWOY Antinomian Marxist Michael Burawoy has taught atthe University of California, Berkley, since 1976. He has studied industrial workplaces in different parts ofthe world — Zambia, Chi- cago, Hungary and Russia—through participant obsoraton, fom which vantage point he has tried to cast light on the nature of pestoloniatism, on the organiza tion of consent to capitalism, on the peculiar forms of working-class consciousness «and work organization in state socialism, and, finaly, on the dilemmas of transi- tion fiom socialism to capitaliem. He has developed theoretically driven method- lies, in particular “the extended cese method.” that allow him to draw brood conclusions from ethnographic research. Throughout hs sciologial career he has engaged with Marxism, seeking to reconsiruct it in the light of his research and more broadly in the light ofthe historical challenges ofthe late twentieth century. [kis my impression that Me. Burawoy is barnpered intellectually by excesive and tuncalstie preoccupation with what he regards as conflts between himself and the prevailing trends of sociological analysis in the United States. He seems to "ink that he must stragele to prevent himself rom being overpowered or seduced by “mainstream sociology” At the rame time, have not ever detected any origi- ality on Ms. Burewoy’ part in analyses whic he has made from the standpoint which he regards as dsfsroured in American sociology... [tight that there is no spark of originality in him, or it ight be that he is holding tin reserve. Since, however, I have known him for «longtime and he has never hesitated to express bis opinions to me on a wide variety of poitial and other subjects, {would inline toward the former hypothesis... When I fat met him, T was very much struck by AnTINoMtaN stancisT | 49 his initiative, He knew nothing about sociology, and he knew nothing about India, but he stuck out on his own, and that seemed to me tobe admirable and worthy ‘ofencouragement. In the Department of Sociology he ha done well in his exami nations... In seminars, Lhave been more struck by an obstinate conventionality and 2 fer of being led into paths which might det his rather simple view of so- Ciel. Itis a great pty beeause he obviously likes to do ceteach and he isnot inhib- ited when it comes to writing, He also as a very good LQ. But somehow, either the security of sectarianism ora juvenile antinomianism seems to have got the bee terof him, Ist noticed the later in Cambridge. At tha ime he was an under- graduate and I thought it would pass. Thus far tha no éwacd Sh (975) (One is not bor but, rather, becomes a Marxist. One becomes a Marxist, in part, through the daranation of others. As woman is to man so Marxism is to ogy —ils excluded, marginalized, calurnniated, fabricated, silenced, and mythol- ogized Other, fastas man needs woman, sociology needs Marxism to ident self, to give meaning to its own existence. Without its Other, sociology loses its reason for being, its originality, and its vitality. But Manxism is not just made by ‘others, for others. also makes itself. [made my Marxism not by abstention from the world but by entering its bowels—mine shafts, machine shops, stel mills, champagne distilleries, and furniture factories in Zambia, the United States, Hagary, and Russia, under eapitalism and so iam, colonialism and posteolo- Bilis, I translated my experiences not into a party ideology but for an ongoing and open Manas tradition, forged inthe political trenches of academe. Within this feld of domination, together with teachers and students, frends and ene- mies, lovers and colleagues, [ have rotated between the reconstruction of Mars- fmm and the critique of sociology. If my Marxism has so far been from the work- ing class, now the question is whether it can also be for the working class. Preludes to Maraismn Its difcultto know how one’ social origins shape one’ future. My mothers fam- ily fed Petzograd when she was thirteen, soon after the 1917 revolution.! My fa- 2. Daring Word War I, St. Peterburg was renamed Petrograd,» more Rusia sounding name. A te Lenin ded in voy itBeosme Leningrad. After the fall ofthe Soret Union the grandeur ofthe nineteenth century city was relled wi the esoration fs ld name, go | Mromaxs punawor ther, conversely left ealier in igi, He grew up in the Eastern Ukraine in Yeka- tarinslay,« city that would later become the huge Soviet military industrial ‘complex of Driiepropetrvsk, Both families escaped to Germany, and my parents ret in Leipzig while they wore univensty students, They fed the Nazi regime for England in 1933. Before they left, they both had received doctorates in chem- istry but only my father was to use is degree for employment in England, He be- came a lecturer in organic chemistry at the Manchester College of Sctence and “Technology. We lived a lower-middle-classlfe on the south side of Manchester. ‘As foreigner anid Jew, with a charming but immodest style, my father never adapted tothe English academic scene. His proclamation of communist sympa thies, perhaps prompted by his disaffection, only deepened his estrangement. As Tong as my father was alive, ray mother stayed at home to look after my sists, leven yests my senior, and me. ‘When I was eleven my father died quite suddenly ofa heartattack. My mother found a job as a technician in a cancer hospital and then as a Russian teaches. We had litle money and so she took in lodgers —iwo ata time —so that our small semidetached house was always overflowing. Mainly doctoral students, they came from all over the world —fiom Fiance, Italy, Germany, and a whole tribe rom Greece but aso fiom much farther afield: Hong Kong, Israel, Pakistan, India, Jo- pan, Brazil, Pera, and Poland. They were devoted to my mother, appreciating her spontaneous and irresistible hospitality. She made a home for them and they be- came like family. Even ifzz Queensway wasa veritable United Nations, I eat say it cultivated my sociological sensibility Peshaps, it made me curious about the reat ofthe world. I the sociological spark was there it was latent, since in those days I had only two passions soccer and astronomy—and the rest could go the dogs. My mother cared only about my performance at schoo, and, under her ‘watchful eye, {lowered in mathematics. Trying to live up to her hopes end be- Tieving mathematics was necessary fora career in astrophysics, I worked hard. ‘All this changed when I took of for New York in 1965 atthe age of seventeen In those days “America” was very far avay, but remoteness was the appeal. found a place on 2 Norwegian cargo boat bound for Philadelphia, and thus be- ¢gan my si-month interlude between school and university. It was the era of evi rights, of the fie speech movement, the beginnings of the ativar movement and sins. I watched from the sidelines but the American impression was deep. Temurtured a restless optimism. { returned to face three dismal years of mathe- ‘matics at Cambridge. I had so specialized in high school that L wa fit For noth- ANTINoMIAN Manxts” [52 ing else. I did experiment with economics, buthere, too, Mound lectures tedious. Aer Ancien Caetg ns gunna tomtom ere engagement with a world I could recognize as “real.” I could think only of es cape. Four-month summer vacations and a short three-year degree were, there fore, Cambridge’ saving grace. Convinced that education was the world’ pana- cea (had Icons imbibed this rom my parent serfs, thelr obseion with my ovn education?) and students its revolutionary force (had Berkeley, even ‘ta distance, already rubbed off on me?), I ventured forth to South Afica in 1966, at the end of my frst year at university If university education was beyond their grap, might black South Afticans benefit fora correspondence education? ‘What about an Open University for Aftca? ‘These were the questions that ln- gered in my mind as I set off to hitcbhike through the rest of Africa | devoted the next academic year to preparing for my trip to India in the sume ‘mer. This time I would be better organized and more focused. For no other rea- son than it seemed important an practical, decided to explore the question of the appropiate language of instruction in higher education. had discovered the issue in a Fabian pamphlet. [could nd no one interested in such matters under Cambridge's dreamy spires, except for a bespectacled, whiteheired, podgy old ‘man, ensconced in spacious rooms in Kings College. There, buried in books and pes behind what were ste thickest doable don, was the ditnguied werican soctelogist, renowned anticommunist, and the most learned man he ve eto Sh tein new eign that he was supposed tobe interested in Indian intellectuals Curious that an une

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