councilor.org
| Source | Jim Devine |
| Date | 06/11/08/09:09 |
| ...Currently, one might say that "the means of production, including the
means of cultural production such as the media, are all directly or indirectly owned by the government." After all, the capitalists couldn't control the means of production if not for the coercive agency of the state. The state also defines the specific meaning of "private ownership" of these means of production (i.e., the details of what rights and responsibilities an individual owner may or may not have and the extent to which these rules are enforced). They couldn't get together to decide on common goals and programs without the government. It's a mistake to think of the state and society as totally separate. Rather, there's a unified class system, with a division of labor between the capitalists (mostly running production) and the state (mostly controlling the means of coercion). BTW, I do not ignore the role of legitimation. But I left it out above to keep things simple. |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho