Ignoring determinate conditions yields naive humanism and populist political practice

Evidence

The great strength of the structuralisms is their stress on “determinate conditions.” They remind us that, unless the dialectic really can be held, in any particular analysis, between both halves of the proposition—that “men make history … on the basis of conditions which are not of their making”—the result will inevitably be a naive humanism, with its necessary consequence: a voluntarist and populist political practice. The fact that “men” can become conscious of their conditions, organize to struggle against them, and in fact transform them—without which no active politics can even be conceived, let alone practiced—must not be allowed to override the awareness of the fact that, in capitalist relations, men and women are placed and positioned in relations which constitute them as agents. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 198

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The Gramscian pessimism-optimism balance plus the dialectic of structure and agency is a dense, load-bearing insight about political practice.
• XREF: Gramsci’s pessimism of intellect/optimism of will connects to Hall’s broader political-theory project. — connects to: Reading a conjuncture’s populist roots early enabled accurate prediction of Thatcherism; Ignoring determinate conditions produces naive humanism and voluntarist politics.; Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 198

Broader Connections

• Ignoring determinate conditions produces naive humanism and voluntarist politics. #corroborates (1.00)
• Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features #expands (0.40)