Friday, January 1, 2016

Norman Pollack — Dynamics of False Consciousness: America Today


This is an interesting short historical essay on economic history and capitalism led by American liberalism as the paradigm from globalization as a cover for neoliberalism, neo-imperialism and neocolonialism.

What stands out is that the current political debate in the US is chiefly about "the middle class." The contention over inequality in distribution of income and wealth is about a particular segment of the US population that feels it is being left out. There is little to no concern for "the lower classes" in the country or for the condition of most people in the rest of the world resulting from the prevailing social, political and economic paradigm dominated by neoliberalism.

Counterpunch
Dynamics of False Consciousness: America Today
Norman Pollack

See also

False consciousness at Wikipedia

False consciousness by Daniel Little

The basic idea is that cultures have dominant stories that embody ideologies that represent class interests. As a result of buying into the dominant stories, the classes whose interests are not served by the story, go along with the ideology consciously and voluntarily. This is false consciousness since it is based on an account that is biased against those in false consciousness. This accounts, for example, why many so many people continue to vote against their real interests socially, politically and economically. Colloquially, it's called "drinking the Kool-Aid."

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