Mike -- your post on Critical-Management and C-M-Workshop raises a
fundamental issue -- I leave aside the human shield issues to focus on your
concerns about ideological bias.
(I am responding from the point of view of the C-M-Workshop list, since
that list is organically tied to the CMSW program, and CMSW, because of its
relation to the US Academy of Management, has formalized some
self-understanding in its Mission statement etc (see
http://aom.pace.edu/cms/). Confusing as it may be, Critical-Management is
an independent operation, not tied to CMSW. The two list have only partly
overlapping subscribers (and CMSW organizers try not to burden
Critical-Management subscribers with details about our annual meeting).)
I think that if you reread the CMSW "Mission statement" on the website, you
will see that the left wing bias that concerns you is pretty foundational.
Frankly, CMSW may simply not be in right place for you if you aren't
willing to put up with the fact that that's where most of us are coming
from. Sorry to be so blunt, but I think your post has framed the issue very
well, and thus permits and deserves a pretty straightforward answer.
There have, it is true, always been some critters who felt they were beyond
left/right distinctions, and were interested only in
epistomologically-grounded critique rather than politically-grounded
critique. And some debate on these issues is certainly within our scope.
But the blunt fact is that the great majority of critters come together
precisely because they share this left orientation and want to help each
other do research and teaching that is better because it better reflects
these values.
I won't try to defend our left orientation. A listserver post is not a
great place to engage such issues. But I will defend the legimitacy of it.
Simply put, you seem to be taking one side of a long-standing argument
about the role of values/ideology/standpoint in developing
understanding/science. The founding premise of CMSW represents the other
side of this debate: that deep understanding of complex social phenomena
can be facilitated by viewing them from a subaltern point of view, esp if
you think that the interests of these subaltern forces represent a likely
and desirable future.
I'm glad you made your post, because from your prior posts, it does seem
that this issue has been itching for quite a while. I hope this helps
clarify things.
All the best
P
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Prof. Paul S. Adler,
Management and Organization Dept,
Marshall School of Business,
University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808
USC office tel: (213) 740-0748
Home office tel: (818) 981-0115
Home office fax: (818) 981-0116
Email: [log in to unmask]
List of publications and course outlines at: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~padler/
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