My Theory of the World
How i understand the world and what i read to get there
*This is a repost to reflect a misspelling I had!*
A friend asked me the other day if I could post a “must read” list. I think reading’s a pretty individual journey and people should read what calls out to them, but the request reminded me of some thinking I had done a bit ago on my theory of the world. More specifically, what is my understanding of why things happen? This is a slightly more fleshed out version of that thinking that includes the texts that were foundational to the development of my theory of the world. It begins from my journey in cognitive science, to Third World Studies, to Bourdieusian field theory and dialectical materialism. Each “pillar” of my theory of the world will be in bold, followed by the texts that shaped that specific tenet and a brief explanation. Let me know if you’re interested in any specific reading and I’m happy to share a digital copy or recommend particular passages!
The reasons why an individual does something cannot be mapped one to one to consciousness. In fact, a complex, unconscious side of cognition shapes what we do.
Thinking, Fast and Slow; Daniel Kahneman
Dan Ariely: unconscious decision making¹
Thinking 101; Woo-Kyoung Ahn
The Illusion of Conscious Will; Wegner
This part of my theory of the world was developed during my cognitive science era, during which I was enchanted by the prospect of uncovering the mysteries of unconscious cognition and exploring the intersection of philosophy and psychology. My experiences on the margins growing up led me to formulate countless questions about why people act the way they do. Cognitive science, was my first academic way of trying to understand that.
The relations of the individual to their social and material environment is shaped by the cultural and historical specificities of their time. We must understand the individual’s present on two levels.
1) The historical and grand theoretical level provides the historical context and grand processes that have shaped and continue to shape the world that we live in. Power is expressed through social categories and along identitarian lines. The mutually constitutive relationship of the economy, polity, and discourse form the foundation upon which to understand history. What are the structures we reside in and how did they come to be?
Social Formation Theory; Gary Okhirio
Black Feminist Theory (Combahee River Collective, Judith Butler, Kimberle Crenshaw)
“Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens”; Cathy J Cohen
J. A. Hobson, Imperialism: A Study
Edward W. Said, Orientalism
Immanuel Wallerstein, World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction
Edna Bonacich and Lucie Cheng, Labor Migration Under Capitalism: Asian Workers in the United States Before World War II
Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1980s
Ethics: subjectivity and truth; Michel Foucault
“To the Nations of the World,” in W. E. B. Du Bois: A Reader
Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide
A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn
Most of these readings are directly pulled from the reading list of Introduction to Third World Studies, a class taught by Gary Okihiro, a bit of an academic hero of mine. The class reading list was a selection of readings that Okihiro found formational (you’ll see why this is hilarious in a sentence) to his conceptualization of the field of Third World Studies. He’s got an incredible theory of global social formation, which he frames through the mutually constitutive areas of economy, polity, and discourse. There’s so much good stuff in here from post colonialism, queer theory, black feminism, and critical theory that has completely changed how I view the world. I did a lot of unlearning of dominant narratives of US history through engaging with these texts.
2) The operationalization of the social relations that form the bridge between history and the present, it provides a framework for grand processes to be anchored in lived realities and contexts. What is the topography that power travels through and resides in? How do individuals inhabit and interact with such topographies?
What is Field Theory; John Levi Martin
Bourdieu and Organizational Analysis; Mustafa Emirbayer and Victoria Johnson
Mao Zedong, “On Practice”
Joan W. Scott, “Experience,” in Feminists Theorize the Political
This section is focused on how I understand what’s happening at the ground level, the tools through which to understand our lived realities. Bourdieu’s field theory is the foundation concept for me here, particularly in the way that his theoretical concepts provide an analytic bridge between the individual and societal structures. To be honest Bourdieu is incredibly tiring and difficult to read, so I would not recommend it. Instead, focus on understanding his ideas of field, capital, and habitus!
Identity is ultimately performative and must be understood as such to parse through institutionalized and socialized common sense and see the productive possibilities of change.
Gender Trouble, Judith Butler
Cultural Sociology (probably something from Jeffrey Alexander)
I would classify this section of my world theory as emerging, as you can tell by the two-item reading list, one of which is not even a specific text. This is where I’ve done the least work in terms of reading, but is naturally a core part of my lived experiences and how I understand them. Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is excellent and I would recommend to anyone.
Let me know what you think! I don’t really have the time or energy right now to put together a coherent version of these various thinkers and ideas, but I thought it could spark some cool thoughts and conversations for people. Always happy to chat more about anything on this list!