| This question <1629|951> overall <1658|1660> SueGirl: <1656|1661>. graded A |
| Question 376: How does Marx define a crisis? |
| [1659] SueGirl: Definition of crisis. Marx describes a crisis as being a.) produced by the evolution of two externally independent processes (which have a complementary internal connection), proceeding until they are violently united. He also considers a crisis as b.) the forcible separation of moments which are essentially one. |
| A simple example of each of the previous definitions of a crisis could involve the family unit. An example of definition a.) would be the unification of my family and my step-family after the marriage of our parents. Although the parents were the internal connection, the sets of children were independent of the other, which made the two families move into the same house an abrupt and violent unity.:) |
| An example of b.) would be the original separation of my parents when they were divorced. Having been essentially “one”, their forcible separation felt unnatural and was perceived as a crisis. |
| A student from Hans' 2003 class stated that Marx also defined a crisis as “the forcible reconciliation of aspects which belong together but which have moved apart” |
| http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/ope-l/2003m03/msg00005.htm |
| He referenced the Iraq war as being this type of crisis, since the country is being forcibly reconciled in every respect. |
| Hans: Your in-class exam has the wrong definition of crisis, and your resubmission only corrected the first half of it. The “forcible separation of moments which are essentially one” is not a crisis. The forcible separation of two moments which are, despite being essentially different, united by an external bond, is a crisis. |
| A divorce is an excellent example of this kind of crisis, but compared with you I am switching around what is considered essential and what external. In their essence, the married couple grow apart, and at some point the marriage bond which tries to impose an external unity on them, that internally no longer exists, must be shattered by a crisis-like event, the divorce. |
| Two separate families moving together by marriage is the forceful exterior unification of two until then separate elements, with the goal to establish the inner unity afterwards. Here the exterior action precedes the inner development, instead of lagging behind as in a crisis. |
| Hans: Originally the above definition of a crisis was “The forcible separation of moments which are essentially different but which are externally united is a crisis.” Since this lead to misunderstandings, as in [2007SP:605], I am changing this in 2007SP. |
|
|
|||||