Social Inequality, Economic Decline, and Plutocracy: An American Crisis

ISBN-13: 9783319840758 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 274 str.

Dale L. Johnson

Recenzje

"This is a book from the 1960s in the sense that the author explicitly reclaims that period in the United States as one of revolt and subversion of accepted knowledge. ... The book will be useful to students in the United States looking to get a basic radical education on the workings of the system. It is very readable and accessible so it should definitely be read by students and activists." (Ronaldo Munck, Capital & Class, Vol. 42 (1), February, 2018)
"Dale Johnson has provided us with what amounts to a textbook on contemporary international capitalism and how to fight it. The book represents a lifetime of engaged scholarship, and given its macro-level approach, makes a unique contribution to our understanding of world events." (Martin Oppenheimer, New Politics, newpol.org, October, 2017)

Spis treści

1.  Money and the World it Creates

 
  7 Astounding Facts on Polarization of Wealth and Poverty   The Dominant Class                                 Economy, Society, Culture, and Polity: The Four Principal Means of Plutocratic Rule

Ch. 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 Stagnation

Ch. 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 State

Ch. 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 Fear

Ch. 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 Plutocracy

Ch. 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 System

Ch. 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 State Clear as Mud Libya, One Nationalist Down, a Nation Destroyed, ISIS Up   Death Squads   Fascism, Ameri卍an Style

Ch. 8.  Globalization of Capital and its Ideologically Framed Policies 

86 Skimming 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  

116 Consciousness:  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 Change

Ch. 10.  Confronting What Is to Achieve Counter-Hegemony 

131 Fear, 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 Education

Ch. 11.  Some Tactical Considerations 

146 Demand the Impossible Obstruction/Disruption as Tactical Advantage   Prioritizing Demands The Limits of Reform Electoral Politics Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaigns

O autorze

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.

Blurb

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.