Marx decentered identity by lodging subjects inside un-chosen historical practices

Evidence

In this latter case, ascertaining them would be in the service of history, so to speak; in the former case, it would provide material for the induction of timeless uniformities. About competition, for instance, we learn something from a great many fields—political science, economics, history of religion, history of art, and so on. The point is to ascertain from all the facts what competition is as a pure form of human behavior; under what circumstances it emerges and develops; how it is modified by the particular character of its object; by what contemporaneous formal and material features of a society it is increased or reduced; and how competition between individuals differs from that between groups. In short, we must ascertain what competition is as a form of relation among individuals. This form may involve all sorts of contents. But in spite of the great variety of these contents, the form maintains its own identity and proves that it belongs to a sphere which is governed by its own laws and which may legitimately be abstracted from other spheres or from total reality. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 202 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Decentering the subject displaces humanity from the origin of meaning; Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 202; Structuralism decentered individual agency that culturalism treated as authentic (+9 more)

Related

• Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings (similarity 0.85)
• The same content persists across different interaction forms (similarity 0.84)
• Identical interaction forms recur across radically different social groups (similarity 0.81)
• Marx conceived social unity as constructed out of difference, not identity (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Structuralism decentered individual agency that culturalism treated as authentic #expands (0.85)
• Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings #contradicts (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 202
• Marx conceived social unity as constructed out of difference, not identity #expands (0.80)