WS writes: >they [workers in the US] experience cognitive dissonance between their concept of Amerika as #1 democracy in the world and their unfavorable experience of life in it.<
Bill wrote: >I have for many years frequented a quasi-redneck tavern in Ohio patronized by wage-workers, guys in construction, delivery drivers, machine-shop operators, etc, etc. What has always amazed me over this time is their enormous awareness of the issues of the days - of the lousy economy, of the negative effects of the war, of science even (one day I walked into a discussion of an article in Time on prions!) And yet, and yet, and yet....if Bush ran for a third term they'd vote for him! > So forgive me if I take my extremely small sample and extrapolate it - into > the statement that the working class in this country is far more intelligent > than it would appear from their voting record. Cognitive dissonance would > explain why it remains right-leaning, xenophobic, nationalistic, insular, etc. etc. < I was thinking about this. Despite my criticisms of WS, the theory of cognitive dissonance may apply. BTW, as I understand it, this is one of the most-tested and most-validated theories in social psychology. The idea may be that workers in the US are infused with individualism: it's your fault if you fail and you deserve it if you succeed; we are all captains of our own boats. That seems a deeply-rooted view and is in fact based in everyday experience in a market-oriented society such as the US (a more market-oriented society than many other capitalist ones). It sure seems that it's my fault if I fail unless I break with the individuallist vision and think big about class domination and exploitation. The latter is hard without some kind of social power and organization. Marx called this "commodity fetishism" or "illusions created by competition." The dissonance between this vision and the "lousy economy, ...the negative effects of the war" and the like would encourage self-blaming, excessive alcohol and drug use, scapegoating others, and voting for Bush. Besides, Bush does a large amount of play-acting to show that he's "just one of the guys." But it's hard to generalize from a tavern, where you'll see excessive alcohol use, etc. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
