According to Marx the repression of the workers is aided by illusions which people adopt to cope with their situation but which actually enslave them further. Since the uprising of the proletariats has not occurred yet, and the workers are still subjugated by the bourgeoisie through the capitalist system, there must still exist repressive illusions in our modern society. I want to briefly examine two of these repressive illusions in modern society: Religion and the American dream.
The beauty, or horror, of these enslaving illusions is that they are self-sustaining, self-propagating, and posses allure and subtlety in such a fashion that people they enslave embrace them and are loath to surrender them in exchange for freedom. Another interesting aspect of these illusions is that while some may have been created to perform the function they now serve, most, I would argue, are a form of spontaneous order created by the oppressed and oppressors alike as a result of the power structure of the society, that is to say that the structure of the society itself forms the same illusion for the next generation, each acting as a power relay for the next.
Religion, it is one of the oldest of these illusions and one of the most effective. The Christian bible encourages subservience through teachings such as “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”, and “turn the other cheek”. A core concept of the bible is that there is an afterlife in which the immortal souls of people will be rewarded or punished according to how they acted during their life. Teachings such as these discourage revolution, in part because of morally dubious acts that revolutions involve like killing and “stealing” of property, and partly because the importance of what one has during their life is significantly less if there is much greater rewards in an afterlife.
The American dream is a capitalistic dream that propagates itself by impressing itself on the minds of all classes from a very young age; it is in a dramatic sense it is a prison for the mind. The revolutionary tries to transform the reality they inhabit to the reality of what they dream, but how can a revolution take place if the dream of something better does not exist? How can a prisoner escape their prison if all they dream of is the prison? The power of the American dream is that it is desirable; people work and dream their entire lives to attain this dream, to attain continued repression by system of capitalism.
Understanding a power structure is the first step to changing or demolishing it, but it is not a guarantee. Religion and the American dream are old and deep rooted illusions that people will, and have, sacrifice their life to protect; it is hard to explain to a person that the shelter they so fiercely protect is a prison designed to keep them subdued. Perhaps the workers will eventually awaken and overthrow capitalism, but with the strength of such illusions opposing change I find it hard to believe that there will ever be a revolution of the workers.
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Wow, I completely agree.
ReplyDeleteSo mainly, with the existence of religion and American concepts (i.e. American Dream), the overthrow of capitalism in particular is unlikely. I agree, but what about the illusion of capitalism itself? Along with religion and the American Dream, the idea of living in a capitalist nation is also deeply entrenched in the American way of living.
ReplyDeleteAs I saw during the health-care debate the other day, things that tend to be one way for a long time, are never changed with discussion or subtle intervention - there needs to be a dramatic event that scares everyone to their very core: a fright that makes him or her question "is all right with my world?" Then you'll see changes.
The economic recession just about did that, I believe.
While I can definitely see how religion, more specifically Christianity, can function as an "opiate of the masses," you may want to consider first that there are avid believers that belong to all socioeconomic classes. So, even if a belief in an afterlife in which "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" is a view that encourages subservience in the oppressed, shouldn't it also encourage charity in the rich who don't want to be "the last" when they get to heaven? Furthermore, might not this charity benefit and create opportunity for the poor?
ReplyDeleteHowever, even if one agrees with these points, I suppose the argument ultimately boils down to whether or not capitalism is a good thing (I tend to think it is). If it's not, then charity isn't a good thing either as it probably won't lead to an overthrow of capitalism.