[lbo-talk] Barbara Ehrenreich

Wojtek Sokolowski swsokolowski at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 10 10:46:58 PDT 2009


--- On Sun, 8/9/09, Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at aapt.net.au> wrote:


> That American populist culture again? The one that Wotjek
> is repulsed by. Nothing you can do with people who don't

[WS:] Point of correction: I am not repulsed by populist culture but by populist politics - a big difference. The former is just a roadside curiosity that can be amusing, the latter is a right wing strategy to undermine progressive policies and initiatives.

And while we are at this, it is quite wrong to attribute the "criminalization of poverty" that Ehrenreich describes to the action of the mythical overlords or the capitalist class. I do not think the monied classes give a flying fuck about the poor because they are sufficiently insulated from them by multiple social and economic barriers.

This criminalization is largely by popular (or perhaps populist) demand from lower middle and working classes, who interact with the poor in everyday life. Trust me on that. You are far more likely to encounter vitriolic diatribes against the poor while talking to urban working or lower middle class than to the wealthy (who can even mutter "helping the less fortunate" as they throw a few pennies to a charity.

There is a very simple principle of social interaction in a class-stratified society: you distinguish yourself from the class immediately below you, because you can be mistaken by being a member of the lower class. Nobody will mistake you for being a part of a class several rungs below yours. Hence, assorted aristocrats and socialites could safely play peasants or communists because nobody would mistakenly place them in the ranks of the working class, but they could distinguish themselves from the class just below them (the middle class petit noveau riche bourgeoisie) by displaying proper nonchalance toward the middle class values.

Wojtek



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