Aspects of Class in the United States: An Introduction

[Karmadillo]

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0706jbf.htm

Aspects of Class in the United States: An Introduction
by John Bellamy Foster

If class war is continual in capitalist society, there is no doubt that in recent decades in the United States it has taken a much more virulent form. In a speech delivered at New York University in 2004 Bill Moyers pointed out that,

Class war was declared a generation ago in a powerful paperback polemic by William Simon, who was soon to be Secretary of the Treasury. He called on the financial and business class, in effect, to take back the power and privileges they had lost in the depression and the new deal. They got the message, and soon they began a stealthy class war against the rest of the society and the principles of our democracy. They set out to trash the social contract, to cut their workforces and wages, to scour the globe in search of cheap labor, and to shred the social safety net that was supposed to protect people from hardships beyond their control. Business Week put it bluntly at the time : “Some people will obviously have to do with less....it will be a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow the idea of doing with less so that big business can have more.”1

The effects of this relentless offensive by the vested interests against the rest of the society are increasingly evident. In 2005 the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal each published a series of articles focusing on class in the United States. This rare open acknowledgement of the importance of class by the elite media can be attributed in part to rapid increases in income and wealth inequality in U.S. society over the last couple of decades—coupled with the dramatic effects of the Bush tax cuts that have primarily benefited the wealthy. But it also grew out of a host of new statistical studies that have demonstrated that intergenerational class mobility in the United States is far below what was previously supposed, and that the United States is a more class-bound society than its major Western European counterparts, with the exception of Britain. In the words of The Wall Street Journal (May 13, 2005):

Although Americans still think of their land as a place of exceptional opportunity—in contrast to class-bound Europe—the evidence suggests otherwise. And scholars have, over the past decade, come to see America as a less mobile society than they once believed. As recently as the later 1980s, economists argued that not much advantage passed from parent to child, perhaps as little as 20 percent. By that measure, a rich man’s grandchild would have barely any edge over a poor man’s grandchild....But over the last 10 years, better data and more number-crunching have led economists and sociologists to a new consensus: The escalators of mobility move much more slowly. A substantial body of research finds that at least 45 percent of parents’ advantage in income is passed along to their children, and perhaps as much as 60 percent. With the higher estimate, it’s not only how much money your parents have that matters—even your great-great grandfather’s wealth might give you a noticeable edge today.

more...

[Selatius]

1. This is capitalism, what did you expect?

Being a capitalist means not having to say you're sorry for exploiting the blood, sweat, and tears of your underlings just so you can get a bigger paycheck at the end of the day. Is it ethical? Who cares! The Walton family doesn't care about that! Is it legal? That's the question!

If it is illegal, then we will use sheer force of power and make it legal!

:sarcasm:

[Stargazer99]

2. What amazes me is how indifferent Joe Six Pac is

to capitalism and what it is doing to his/her life. Brain-washed comes to mind.

[Briar]

4. I think a lot of time, money and effort

has been spent on manufacturing Joe Six Pac's consent. Check out "The Century of the Self" by Adam Curtis.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12642.htm

[Karmadillo]

7. Thanks much for the link. I watched the first hour and it

was excellent (in a very depressing way). Here's more info from the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml

THE CENTURY OF THE SELF
Monday 29 April - Thursday 2 May 2002 7pm-8pm


Adam Curtis' acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty.

To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund's devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund's great grandson, Matthew Freud.

Sigmund Freud's work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society's belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man's ultimate goal.

More on the series:

Episode One: Happiness Machines
Episode Two: The Engineering of Consent
Episode Three: There is a Policeman Inside All Our Head: He Must Be Destroyed
Episode Four: Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering

[nealmhughes]

3. This post, Sen. Dorgan's appearance on the Book segment of C-Span2

today railing about the trade imbalance, NAFTA, CAFTA, open revolt of the rank and file against the DLC's supposed "lordship" of the Democratic Party...Bernie's very real chance of becoming a Senator...Lamont's primary victory (and more importantly, the rightwing reaction to it) -- are these all coincidences? I think not. Wait until they start repoing houses and then their single vehicles, then you'll see working class solidarity.

The belief that most Americans are "middle class" is the biggest lie that was ever perpetrated upon a nation. Just because one lives in what one might have formerly termed "middle class" security and comfort does not make a working man or woman middle class. Middle class people employ other people and whose only idea of dirt is an gravy stain on their ties or white blouses. I do not count the crew leader of a construction brigade who works alongside those whom he pays as "middle class" nor the small craftsman or shopkeeper who may have an assistant or two. Traditionally post-secondary educators, physicians,attornies and very senior governmental officials were accorded middle class status as an honor title only. Then it went to middle and lower management and then clerical workers and those in finance and insurance...and then suddenly it was everyone who had a job!
What is the shame in saying I have a job, I produce? It ought to be a point of pride, instead. Was it not John Ball who asked "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" in the 14th Century?
Even the nobility of Europe, without exception, are the descendents of Germanic chieftans who overthrew the effete rotten Empire by force of will and the arms of their farmer cousins infusing new blood with odd concepts such as the the one that every man was born free and it had to be proven that anyone had a claim on him...juries... and the Things and other popular assemblies. It was William Tell the farmer who refused to refuse to the bow to the hat and recognize any notion of differentiation in Switzerland, that is why Saudi Arabia won't let Rossini's Overture be played in public in that misbegoten state. It was Jefferson and Washington who retired to their orchards and distilleries after their public service...Andrew Johnson the illiterite tailor's apprentice whose wife taught him to read that took over from the one month schooled pioneer's son as president...
I am reminded at a disgusting display I once overheard: A US Navy officer was berating his division in public on the brow of their ship saying "You are all a bunch of scum!" To which a lone voice of a small young man with no stripes on his sleeve replied, "What are you then, sir, if we are scum? Head turd?" The Lt. Cdr. walked away silently with his head down.
It seems more and more every day, that Bismark's and Victorian, along with both Roosevelts' and Wilson's reforms have only shown that Marx's theories were not permanently reversed, but merely stalled for a short while by the triumph of the bourgeois liberal democracy.
When "giants" fall, by the way, it is not a loud boom, merely a dull thump, the same as everyone else.

[ikojo]

5. More gems from the article

snip

Nevertheless, a considerable portion of the population still seems willing to accept substantial differentials in economic rewards on the assumption that these represent returns to merit and that all children have a fighting chance to rise to the top. The United States, the received wisdom tells us, is still the “land of opportunity.” The new data on class mobility, however, indicate that this is far from the case and that the barriers separating classes are hardening.

snip

...Class inequality manifests itself in wealth, income, and occupation, but also in education, consumption, and health—and each of these are among the means by which class advantages/disadvantages are transmitted. Class inequalities, Sweezy explained,

"are not only or perhaps even primarily a matter of income: a considerable range of income differentials would be compatible with all children having substantially equal life chances. More important are a number of other factors which are less well defined, less visible, and impossible to quantify: the advantages of coming from a more “cultured” home environment, differential access to educational opportunities, the possession of “connections” in the circles of those holding positions of power and prestige, and self-confidence which children absorb from their parents—the list could be expanded and elaborated.6"

[Delphinus]

6. We had a state official,

just the other day, try to perpetuate this myth:
Nevertheless, a considerable portion of the population still seems willing to accept substantial differentials in economic rewards on the assumption that these represent returns to merit and that all children have a fighting chance to rise to the top. The United States, the received wisdom tells us, is still the “land of opportunity.” The new data on class mobility, however, indicate that this is far from the case and that the barriers separating classes are hardening.

[manhunter2006]

8. Whats the answer??

So what is the solution?
I agree. Life is dammned unfair. As bad as nature.
Those with the gold make the rules. Most are powerless.
Until relatively recently, life for most has been nasty ,brutish and
short.
But whats the answer? Over the last hundred hundred years we have
tried just about every type of socio-economic model conceivable
and none has survived. Communism, socialism, all the ism's are in the
dust bin of history. For all of its appaling inequities, Western capitalism
has provided a better standard of living for more people than ever before in history.
What are we going to replace it with? I have a bad feeling that this is as good as it gets.

[ikojo]

9. What about adopting a system similar to what

exists in Sweden and Norway which includes universal healthcare, far more vacation time and holidays than what we in the US get, education paid through the university level. Yes, taxes are higher in those countries but it seems the entire population benefits from those taxes, unlike here where working class people pay more percentage wise than do the wealthy who are not dependent on wages but rather investments.

[Demeter]

10. An Institutional Middle Class?

Do you know how hard the power-mad are fighting such steps in Sweden, France, and Germany? Unless such provisions are written into the Constitution, backeed up by Constitutional confiscation of excess wealth, we will make NO progress towards economic middle classdom, ever.