I apologize for not responding to Jim's points. His being upset is understandable. I am trying to get a paper out for a workshop to be held in another non-secular and undemocratic society (Taiwan in less than a month). No pun intended here. I should have some time off next week, although I have just about sold my house, and getting ready to spend a whole year in another very authoritarian society--Singapore. I don't know if there is something common in all these places but I sure am puzzled about their social organization and governance structures. It is with this in mind that I have an intellectual interest in understanding Korea, particularly wrt capital accumulation and economic development. As for my position, I consider myself a progressive, leftist, though not liberal in the western sense. Many of my refereed articles were condemned as "marxian" (some said antiquated) but they have been published nevertheless. For me social structure, which includes class, is important for any meaningful analysis. But because I am from a society/nation that is highly heterogeneous (multicultural is an inadequate and perhaps useless term) I do not necessarily share some of the convictions of the progressive-left. Class is only one parameter by which people identify themselves hence my reservations of applying concepts, practices out of the western experience to late capitalism. More on this later..... Anthony D'Costa U of Washington Liberal Studies Program!
