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Very well put Alan. It is high time that the Conference of Socialist Economists and Capital and Class moved away from academia and re-connected to the workers and allied social movements. Actually putting itself at service to assist the movement. Chris -----Original Message----- From: Paul Stewart <[log in to unmask]> To: CAPITAL-AND-CLASS <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thu, 10 May 2012 11:02 Subject: Re: critique Agree with you absolutely, Alan. Paul ________________________________________ From: To complement the journal 'Capital and Class' (ISSN 0 309 8786) [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan Freeman [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 10 May 2012 01:39 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: critique I think this depends on the answer to the question, who are 'we', exactly? When 'we', the founders of Capital and Class, set it up, it was not conceived of, and was not confined to, academics. In fact, it was fairly explicit, as I recall it, that C&C rejected the imposed division of the world into academics and non-academics. Somewhere along the way, this changed. I'm not quite sure when, and even less sure why. I am even less sure why 'non-academics' as the journalists like to paint themselves, feel obliged to scapegoat someone they choose to demonise as 'academics' in such a way as to exempt themselves from any duty of scholarship (as if the record of journalist economists were any better) nor why the 'academics' feel it necessary to defend themselves in the terms in which they are attacked. The real problem as I see it is a generalised failure of paid intellectuals, whether they work for newspapers, universities, or for that matter, banks or think-tanks, to respect basic criteria of the search for truth, where matters of economic science are concerned. In this I don't see that the journalists have done any better than anyone else, but I don't feel obliged to make this point by defending some spurious record of the academics. A -----Original Message----- From: To complement the journal 'Capital and Class' (ISSN 0 309 8786) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin Upchurch Sent: May-09-12 4:48 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: critique So what can we do to respond to Aditya Chakrabortty? Do we need to write more for the non-academic milieu, in newspapers, blogs etc? Or is it the case that we should combine our academic activities with activism in the political arena? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/07/academics-cant-answer-cr iticism-analysis Martin Upchurch Professor of International Employment Relations Middlesex University Business School The Burroughs Hendon London NW4 4BT 07545 487952 [log in to unmask] Global Work and Employment Project (GWEp) http://www.mdx.ac.uk/research/areas/HR/gwep/index.aspx Globalisation and Work Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/group.php?gid=238371095227&ref=ts Beyond Labour Regulation blog http://www.globalworkonline.net/blog/beyondlabour/