What we believe and how we behave forms middle class culture. Over the course of my lifetime we have become a culture more engaged by interest groups than by our communities. To thrive in the setting of community you have to be willing to harmonize diverse beliefs and behaviors. To thrive with an interest group you have to idolize their mission or beliefs at the expense of any alternatives.
Our transition to an interest group culture has a variety of effects. We are more likely to be ideologues, ignoring any experiences that might temper what we believe. We are more likely to worship idols, from rock stars to economic icons. We are more likely to be conventional in our thinking, conforming to ideologies and idols rather than independently attempting to induce meaning from our own experiences.
Too many of us believe that more stuff and more privacy is what makes us independent, rather than the independent diversity of labor, adaptability of thought and stability of belonging that evolved in us for natural survival. Goading us on this path are “libertarian” think tanks and “patriotic” interest groups. We heed their calls towards materialism, individualism and/or nationalism, rather than focus on the people and places of our community. Wealth, power and dogmatic elites make appeals to our vanity, cynicism and apprehensions to persuade us of the need to believe the same things they believe and support their behaviors.
These are the cultural issues that guide our political decision-making and our economic resource distribution.
Of course, you can also get occasional comments from this forum on American Idol. No, the irony of that does not escape me.
Tags: Middle Class Culture
