in a mood
the function in the larger economy of the professional classes. this is a question of import because of its role in the ideology and legitimation of capitalism. it must be considered in a variety of ways to see the role of political economy of this quasi-class. finally it relates to the entire question of discipline and the source of organizing powers, powers of intensification, and with these questions of mind and body.
a strange idea. their discipline perhaps functions to energize the rest, so to speak (though i'm suspending any directional judgment). they force a constant and regular rhythm and hence serve as focal nodes within an economy. contraction and dilation- dilation occurs when requirements on intensification diminish. democracy induces dilation, when it takes the form of requiring less and less intensity in living. the professional, the burgher, is trained into a band of constant attention, a point of distributed power within a society. they are embedded throroughly in a particular discourse of living and they ground that discourse by the habits and patterns of their lives, daily, weekly, yearly, in every instant.
this is not to say that the rest of society lacks this power fully but that this class serves as focal points within the dominant discourses- the ones with the most moeny and authority and audience to act.
hmm. think of an entrepreneur. the degree of attention they must give their lives for success. the degree of intensity with which they must coordinate their moments and lives, mind and body. the level of toil is not the question, but the level of regularity and self-control.
the question might not be to diminish this intensity but to broaden it (as in through the development of a broad skilled middle class grounded in labor).
yet in the process to note the peculiarities, the limitations. the chief limitation being the inability for immediate, organic coordination with equals for single acts. the absence of collective rhythm.
the strength of a society seen in the vigor of its powerful members. how to speak of this, this transfer of affect and emotional power, the power to serve as a node of attention and organization. chief question then, this possibility of transfer of motions. biologically simple perhaps...
how is willpower approached in some groups, and around what does it focus?
the bricoleur as inversion of the professional, the body disciplined in such a way as to remain open. rather than intensify ad pass on rhythms, a bricoleur turns his/her body/mind into a mixing chamber for affects in the outside, remaining constantly open to the outside but bridging one aspect fo the outside to another. a discipline towards understanding, towards seeing without clouds before ones eyes. (see zen or spinoza or discussion of christian mysticism)
and by such a discipline may we be able to develop, meaningfully, collective entrepreneurship. collective agency.
we might also consider this a difference between the "small business" and the large, a qualitative difference to rest upon. the small business must "trust" in the outside, taking a leap of faith to function and conditioning actions such that they find the maximal point between experimentation and traditionalism.
economic question, under what conditions do small businesses maximize experimentation? under what conditions would a market function to promote dynamism. under what conditions would it promote stagnation. is the claim of broad competition true, that it prompts experimentation, innovation? how can the boundaries of the individual be reduced such that they do not serve to impede the flow of a meme of creation? what does market stress lend the process of creation? it forces an openness to the outside perhaps?