Social Conservativism and Neoliberal Hegemony in the USA (was Re: Scabs?)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Have people on this list given thought to how social conservativism in
general, hand in hand with more explicit sexism, racism, and nativism, has
helped to organize the working class people's 'consent'--or at least
underwhelming resistance--to the ideological hegemony of neoliberalism in
the United States? [I don't mean to be US-centric, but as a Japanese living
in the US, I am more familiar with the making of neoliberal hegemony here
and in Japan than in other countries.]

Social conservativism--its fear of sexual liberties and racial/cultural
otherness--has provided immense ideological resources that the
Right-wingers can make use of in their efforts to dismantle the public
sector employment and social programs of many kinds--especially AFDC (Aid
for Families with Dependent Children), which is often equated with
'welfare' here.

Think about it. Why haven't the US working class mounted a massive
resistance to the bipartisan assault on the most vulnerable sector of the
class--single mothers with children--who desperately needed the solidarity
of their class brothers and sisters? Could it be that many workers have
bought into the Right-wing arguments such as the following? (My comments
are put into the square brackets.)

(1) Women are 'popping out' babies, one after another, 'just to get on
welfare.' [Panders to fear of female sexuality, 'sexual promiscuity,' +
fertility of poor women, esp. of poor women of color. Racist + sexist.]

(2) 'Babies are having babies.' [Caters to fear of teenage sexuality.]

(3) '"They" are just lazy [unlike "us"].' [Exploits every working-class
person's righteous resentment against wage slavery + labor discipline,
while manipulating the shame and ambivalence about 'idleness' (aka free
time), and deflects this mix of complex feelings against poor women.]

(4) 'Only blacks get on welfare.' [Obviously racist.]

(5) 'Only blacks and white trash get on welfare.' [Further promotes the
workers' mistaken self-identification as 'middle class,' by racializing
poor whites as well as using racism, and therefore preventing the emergence
of class consciousness.]

(6) 'Immigrants, especially illegal aliens, come here not to work, but to
get on welfare.' [Nativism is obvious here.]

(7) Welfare mothers in 'inner cities' are having kids 'out of wedlock.'
[Reinforces the injunction against sexual liberties not sanctioned by the
Church and the State. Also solidifies heterosexism.]

(8) Welfare moms' kids, born 'out of wedlock,' in 'inner cities' will grow
up to become criminals. [The use of racism in the 'war on crime' are
duplicated here.]

The US working-class's failure to vigorously protest the attack on AFDC, in
my view, should reveal, once again, why anti-sexism and anti-racism, as
well as efforts to erode social conservatism in general, are crucial for
the Left because such struggles are NOT separate from class struggles.

Yoshie