With a culture preoccupied by the belief that material gain constitutes fulfillment within life, it is becoming increasingly common to view the act of living as the need to obtain wealth. This inane form of existence is a result of the capitalistic system in which our Western world is governed. An essay that effectively expounds the circumstances leading up to the current economic disparity among the classes is Edward McClelland’s, RIP, The Middle Class: 1946-2013. In the U.S. today, the need for a stable and remunerative job is one of the greatest concerns of an adult. McClelland’s essay manages to astutely explain this issue, why it occurred, and possible solutions. Due to a seemingly ever-expanding multiplicity of circumstances, however,
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According to Mike Cormack, author of Ideology, ideology is “a social process that links beliefs, a society’s self-image, the production of meaning, and the creation of individual identity.” It is essentially the process that connects both socioeconomics and an individual’s consciousness. The most prominent ideology that the essay addresses is capitalism. Firstly, McClelland begins by introducing the concept of capitalism as a “workers paradise” in the 1960s and 1970s. This introduction serves the purpose of establishing the social process that Cormack discusses. All the middle class U.S. workers were participants of a capitalistic system. Therefore, they all contributed to growth and proliferation of the ideology, making it a social process. McClelland goes on to write that “capitalism has been doing exactly what it was designed to do: concentrating wealth in the ownership class, while providing the mass of workers with just enough wages to feed, house, and clothe themselves.” This further relates to Cormack’s notion of ideology. The idea that one’s social system will bestow that person with the necessities for living is a belief. The workers believe that if they subscribe to the system, then they will be appropriately rewarded. Additionally, the concept that the ownership class makes a significantly more money than the working class creates a certain self-image and individual identity. In a capitalistic system, money is power. Therefore, the lower class is viewed as inferior to the rich elites. This feeling of inferiority instills a sense of alienation and insecurity within the working class, and a belief of supremacy within the ruling class. By elucidating how capitalism affects the United States, McClelland faultlessly encapsulated the concept of Cormack’s
According to Mike Cormack, author of Ideology, ideology is “a social process that links beliefs, a society’s self-image, the production of meaning, and the creation of individual identity.” It is essentially the process that connects both socioeconomics and an individual’s consciousness. The most prominent ideology that the essay addresses is capitalism. Firstly, McClelland begins by introducing the concept of capitalism as a “workers paradise” in the 1960s and 1970s. This introduction serves the purpose of establishing the social process that Cormack discusses. All the middle class U.S. workers were participants of a capitalistic system. Therefore, they all contributed to growth and proliferation of the ideology, making it a social process. McClelland goes on to write that “capitalism has been doing exactly what it was designed to do: concentrating wealth in the ownership class, while providing the mass of workers with just enough wages to feed, house, and clothe themselves.” This further relates to Cormack’s notion of ideology. The idea that one’s social system will bestow that person with the necessities for living is a belief. The workers believe that if they subscribe to the system, then they will be appropriately rewarded. Additionally, the concept that the ownership class makes a significantly more money than the working class creates a certain self-image and individual identity. In a capitalistic system, money is power. Therefore, the lower class is viewed as inferior to the rich elites. This feeling of inferiority instills a sense of alienation and insecurity within the working class, and a belief of supremacy within the ruling class. By elucidating how capitalism affects the United States, McClelland faultlessly encapsulated the concept of Cormack’s