Social Inequality, Economic Decline, and Plutocracy (eBook)

An American Crisis

Dale L. Johnson (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2017 | 1st ed. 2017
VI, 274 Seiten
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-49043-4 (ISBN)

Infos

This book aims to further an understanding of present day America by exploring counter-hegemony to the rule of capital and offering guidelines for strategizing change proceeding from the dialectic of What Is and What Ought to Be. The author analyzes neoliberal global order and its political expressions through discussions of the dominance of finance capital in the late twentieth century, the triumph of ideology, the closing of avenues to reform, the problem of the captive state, and a sociological analysis of rule by 'divide and conquer.' The book concludes with a look at the history of movement politics in culture, arts, economics, and politics. It resounds with a hope that challenges to hegemony can use many paths to change, of which the electoral path is but one of many fronts, in the long-term struggle for radical reform.

Dale L. Johnson is a retired sociologist living in Costa Rica and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Rutgers University, USA. This book was inspired by his view of the deteriorating situation in the United States and his roots as a 1960s student activist and young critical sociologist. He is the author of seven books and numerous articles in journals.

Inhalt

1.  Money and the World it Creates   7Astounding Facts on Polarization of Wealth and Poverty  The Dominant Class                                 Economy, Society, Culture, and Polity: The Four Principal Means of Plutocratic RuleCh. 2.  The Political Economy of Financialization and Its Consequences                                                     Crisis                                                       Financial Instruments, not Jobs, Schools, or Clean Energy     The Norm of Economic Stagnation Income/Wealth Distribution and StagnationCh. 3.  Degenerative Development and Class Transformation                                                       The Working Class Today  The Under Class of Immiserated Peoples The Formation of the Middle Class  The Intermediate Class and its Fractions  Internationalization, Accumulation, and Class Accumulation and the StateCh. 4.  Ideology as the Root of Plutocratic Rule      Subverting Consciousness    The Culture of Fear     Cultural Myth and Fear   Fear and Scapegoating    Fear. Endless Fear    The Subtle Side of Fear    Capitalism and Morality   Confronting FearCh. 5.  The Ruling Class Rules by Subordinating Government to the Sway of Money        Plutocracy    The State of National Insecurity   The Lesser Evil Limitations to the Subjugation of the State to PlutocracyCh. 6.  Rule by Divide and Conquer       Ideology and Class Relations. Allies and Enemies of Real Change    Plutocrats and Their Servants Get Off on Subordinating Women    Global Women´s Strike International Demands   Stratification of the Working Class    Immigrant Labor and Scapegoating    The Interconnections of Racism, Sexism, Scapegoating, and Other Evils in the Reproduction of the SystemCh. 7. The Ultimate Means of the Rule of Capital: Repression, Terror, and War    Imperial Ambition and War    On the Infamous Satan Hussein    A Super Rogue StateClear as Mud Libya, One Nationalist Down, a Nation Destroyed, ISIS Up  Death Squads  Fascism, Ameri卍an StyleCh. 8.  Globalization of Capital and its Ideologically Framed Policies 86Skimming Recent History  Neoliberalism and Globalization More on Global Reach: The U.S. Federal Reserve, Finance Capital and Global Speculation The European Union. The Modern Odyssey of Greece  The Ukrainian Travesty Free Trade Has a High Price Socialism for the 21st Century Viva Cuba! Class Relations and Globalization, Latin America  Goose-stepping Toward Hegemony Transition to Democracy of the 1990s and Breaking Out in the 2000s  Latin America, Local Oligarchs and U.S. Intervention       Challenges to Development and Achieving a Just Society                                       Ch. 9.  A Summary of Strategic Considerations  116Consciousness:  The Dialectic of What is and What Ought to Be Class Forces to Work Toward a Counter-Hegemony  The Working Class and Unions The Under Class and Minorities: Protest and Rebellion Ambiguous Role of the Middle Class  Division Among Capitalists Youth and Social ChangeCh. 10.  Confronting What Is to Achieve Counter-Hegemony 131Fear, War, and Official Terrorism CIA: Central Intelligence Assassins Curbing Terror and War War Crimes, Historical Parallels Degenerative Development and the Environment Combating Racism: Criminalization of Poverty and the Reform of the Criminal Justice System Nationalization of Banks and Worker/Public Control of Bankrupt Firms  Class Organization to Extend Social Programs Universal Health care as a Central Demand Quality Education at all Levels and Free Higher EducationCh. 11.  Some Tactical Considerations 146Demand the Impossible Obstruction/Disruption as Tactical Advantage  Prioritizing Demands The Limits of Reform Electoral Politics Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaigns

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.2.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice
• Reihe/Serie: Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice
• Zusatzinfo: VI, 274 p.
• Verlagsort: Cham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Schlagworte: Class Relations • Critical theory • financialization • Ideology • Inequality • Late Capitalism • leftist politics • Political Economy • Political left • Social Class • US politics • Wealth distribution
• ISBN-10: 3-319-49043-5 / 3319490435
• ISBN-13: 978-3-319-49043-4 / 9783319490434