belisarius27

You just joined the site. That's awesome. Welcome. But mere opinion carries little scholarship. Any group of people makes a society. This is apriori knowledge and, as such, idiomatic. Just as the example of the Massachusetts Bay colony was a moral economy in a society, the DCI community has historically practiced a moral economy in a society. Saying it is not a society doesn't make it a non-society. I don't even know what a non-society is. Do you have an alternate theory or are you simply saying "no, it's not"? Do you have any history, examples, or academic support?

I work in a public school. In discussions concerning the 4 or 5 kids who care about all this, their opinion is pretty much the same. They said, "Mean people suck." These kids aren't clients or marketing targets, they are people who can think. I think the G7 show will become irrelavent to most of those who only follow it peripherally (those upon whom the activity depends).

You have every right to disagree with the following comments, but if you choose to, please cite your sources. "Moral Economy" is a name given in economics, sociology and anthropology to describe the interplay between cultural mores and economic activity. It describes the various ways in which custom and social pressure coerce economic actors in a society to conform to traditional norms even at the expense of profit. Prior to the rise of classical economics in the eighteenth-century, the economies in Europe and its North American colonies were governed by a variety of (formal and informal) regulations designed to prevent "greed" from overcoming "morality". In its most formal manifestations, examples such as the traditional Christian and Muslim prohibitions on usury represent the limits imposed by religious values on economic activity, and as such are part of the moral economy. Laws that determine what sort of contracts will be given effect by the judiciary, and what sort of contracts are void or voidable, often incorporate concepts of a moral economy; in many jurisdictions, traditionally a contract involving gambling was considered void in law because it was against public policy. These restrictions on freedom of contract are the results of moral economy. According to the beliefs which inspired these laws, economic transactions were supposed to be based on mutual obligation, not individual gain. In colonial Massachusetts, for example, prices and markets were highly regulated, even the fees physicians could charge.(Morton Horwitz: Transformations in American Law). It has been customary in the history of Drum Corps International to pursue competition in a manner consistent with a moral economy. This has been the case so that young people can participate and grow without the taint of capitalistic outcomes. This has NEVER been a profit driven endeavor. The German economist Max Weber (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism) describes the strength of this moral economic system and warns of the social collapse that might follow the rejection of a value based system of cooperative econimic enterprises. I contend that the G7 are engaged in an endeavor that rejects a moral economy which promotes collective success and has instead adopted a post-modern, cynical outlook on the activity they claim to represent. This post-modern pursuit is characterized by: 1. No restraint on rational capitalism. (See Weber: The Sociology of Religion) There is a clamor for more money to produce "better" shows. Innovation is no longer seen as possible without significant capital expenditure. History refutes this claim. 2. Isolation of the collective group identity. (See Victor Von Frankl: Man's Search for Meaning) This is a process through which some individual identities are enhanced at the expense of others. As the process continues, few remain. Because of the inherent isolation that this process produces, the relavence of the group diminishes until those outside the group determine that the group's identity no longer has value. When the "rest" of us see only 7 corps remaining, we will find that those 7 have little value. 3. Rebellion/Disaffection (Weber: The Sociology of Religion) Max Weber describes a "propensity of alienation" that causes one portion of the group to rebel when certain conditions are met. In the case of the G7, economic stress has given rise to this "prophetic movement". The economic stress has blinded the G7 to the value of a broader participatory model. 4. A breakdown of ethical divisions. To identify certain corps as "premier" creates a defacto definition of "non-premier". This places value on numerical placement rather than effort. The activity is no longer effort driven, but outcome based. This creates a disdain for those who fail to measure up to the arbitrary standards of the G7. Historically, the activity has survived the loss of many "premier" organizations such as the 27th Lancers, North Stars, Bridgemen, and Kingsmen. The two most entertaining corps in DCI history are no longer active competitively in the World Class ranks either (Bridgemen and Velvet Knights). To suggest that any corps is elite and provides an indespensible service to DCI is not only offensive, but historically inaccurate. The G7 movement is not only factually flawed, but sociologists have seen many movements like this in the past. The outcomes are not predetermined, but trend data provides powerful indicators that the Drum Corps activity cannot survive the process described in the G7 manifesto.