Class character of organized crime Anonymous 09-05-22 21:24:23 No. 10559
I've been wondering recently: the people who own nothing and produce nothing are the lumpenproletariat, and that includes hobos and criminals. However, organized criminals have bosses who take part of their gains, same as a capitalist takes a wage laborer's surplus value. Can thus mafia bosses and drug kingpins be called a "lumpenbourgeoisie", a specific type of bourgeois that takes the surplus value of illegal or extractive activities? I've seen the term applied to compradors. Also, Mike Hudson comes to mind - he claims the primary contradiction of modern capitalism is not between labor and capital, but the FIRE sector and everyone else, arguing that this industry produces no real physical value and just seeks rents off moving numbers around - could this also fall under the same umbrella?
Anonymous 19-05-22 12:01:16 No. 10723
>>10722 white collar fraud is pretty universally vilified
in fact, i'd wager it's even more controversial and taboo than murder inc shit
Anonymous 24-03-24 18:39:43 No. 21776
Organized crime is actually a lot more of a tribal concept. The name families aren't just for show, it comes from the origins of the Italian mob, The Italian mafia basically grew out of a culture where feudalism ended but the need for it in their culture did not. The people in the outlying regions were used to going to an authority figure to pass judgments for their disputes and protect them from bandits or whatever, and the new government was weak and inefficient. Some places would only have the authorities visit as often as once a month to pick up prisoners to take them away for trial. So you ended up with a bunch of guys that, for one reason or another, ended up being the de facto 'Lord' of their area: the one everyone came to with their problems. Because the people knew how that system worked, and democracy was at best a theory to them. So you had this power and authority structure that grew up in the shadow of the legal, official government. So at its heart, whether or not it was ever true in practice, the idea of the mafioso was built around them being a respected individual at the head of the community. That's where the idea of mafia guys being 'classy' came from, when filtered through American culture by Italian immigrants and other past and present organized crime groups are also built around the concept. They aren't just groups of guys banding together but actual relatives. The mob boss isn't just a nebulous force, he could be your father's second cousin, someone your grandmother babysat.
Unique IPs: 10