The "Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaire" Syndrome

[RedHammer]

Perhaps you have heard of the quote:

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." - John Steinbeck.

Why do you think workers act against their own interests? There are all kinds of reasons, to be sure, but perhaps the most prominent are:

1] The idealistic notion that capitalism is a genuine meritocracy

2] The nationalism in American culture, that is explicitly anti-communist. Therefore, communism is bad because America is good. This, of course, presupposes that there is one "America"; and that the efforts of Americans are wholly united towards the same goals.

What do you think about the "American Dream"? I am tempted to say that it is idealistic nonsense, but you can't deny the fact that some immigrants did indeed find a better life here. When we win people over to our cause, we cannot do so by insulting them, i.e, by suggesting that they cannot make it on their own, even though it is true that capitalism is built upon one class dominating another.

Of course, the original question, why do some working class people vote against their own interests, is only meaningful to us: to Marxists. Perhaps they do not think socialism is in their interests.

Thoughts?

[campesino]

too much individualism not enough socialism. Bakunin or Bookchin once said some thing to the effect of "just as it is impossible for society to exist without individuals, it is ridiculous to view individuals existing without society," we are now dealing with a mass of people who think they are Robinson Crusoe types. Why? because it is cool to be an independent self-made millionaire, rogue, lone ranger, terrorist hunting cia agent. Glorification of the individual, culminating into the author and ideology of Ayn Rand. The god of modern culture isn't Bruce Willis, Sylverster Stallone, John Wayne it is our individual selves(if we were the average media consumer).

Basically people are unable to see that they and everything around them has been produced by the social which is exploited for the gain of private capitalist.

[ComingUpForAir]

A few things I like to remind people of:

1 - Yes, sometimes someone from a working class background DOES make it out against the odds and becomes stupendously wealthy, however statistically this is miniscule compared to the amount of people who either don't make it out or are killed outright by gang violence, are conditioned by a terrible education and by a system designed to segregate and/or cause them to fail utterly, etc. etc.

2 - The billionaires of today are either people who inherited their money or people who make all their money on the backs of the working class via capital gains, etc. etc... and even these people could not be who they are if not for the communities in which they were raised, which supplied their mental framework completely, nor could they have built their vast fortunes if it hadn't been for brilliant and talented people who worked for them. Entrepreneurship should really be something close to a myth -- there are pathetically low rates of people who can start a business and have it succeed in this country.

I find myself listening to radio ads now for people wanting to buy ideas. DO you have an idea? It asks -- well someone wants to buy it for cheap and use their economic leverage to make their fantastic wealth even more so.

The temproarily embarrassed millionaires.. well I think Thomas Franks' book What's The Matter With Kansas really explains that one quite well.. suffice to say people who suffer a lot or see no hope have to have SOMETHING to keep them going.. they keep their illusions because the truth would enrage them and cause them to start revolting. As Marx so presciently said, break the chain, cull the living flower.

Something I noted which is somewhat unrelated:

White pride people are the trashiest whites -- they hang on to 'race' because otherwise they have no leverage on brown and blacks, whom society looks on with disdain because of racism. etc. etc.

[jookyle]

I've gotten into arguments with capitalists before and they pretty much fall into this. That they can, that anyone can, become rich. Of course all you have to do is ask them how can capitalism work if everyone is of the "upper class" and they generally can't answer, and when they do it's just talking in circles. I remember one getting into a heated argument with my cousin's husband on the matter to which he said, "With capitalism, even someone like me can become rich." To which I responded, "Yeah, how's that been working out for you?" It wasn't. They believe the rhetoric even though their live, and the lives of those around show results contrary to it.


It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it~George Carlin

The working obviously do not find socialism to be in their self-intrest. This mostly has to do with people having a limited understand of what socialism actually is. Most people, at least in America, come out of high school being told that socialism and fascism are basically the same and it stays with them. And you're quite right to bring up the point of how nationalism is worked into this. America is good, and America is capitalist, therefore communism is bad because it is not "American".

[Silvr]

I don't know. I live in America, and I don't know any workers who see themselves as 'temporarily embarrassed millionaires', especially now when so many people are out of work. I seriously doubt many workers here believe they are going to wake up rich one day. It seems to me that the general level of apathy is more the result of feeling powerless, like things can never change so struggle is futile, rather than some mass delusion of immanent wealth.

[RadioRaheem84]

It's not hard to figure out guys. Every epoch has had an underlying philosophy in which things had to have been maintained in order for their to be order in the world.

The Greeks believed that certain things had to be in order or the whole world would be topsy turvy.

In the US capitalism, God (Jesus) and family = America and Liberty. They start off with capitalism which the basic root, then the family unit which holds this together and last a moral belief in God to keep out morals in check from descending into moral relevancy.

This is their polis.

[Red Banana]

To echo some of the people here; propaganda, indoctrination, and Nationalism. For decades on the news networks and in the schools people have been conditioned to believe that socialism is just some sort of bad, "anti-American", thing. I remember being told in school by a history teacher "Democracy and Communism are polar opposites", and the kids didn't know any better so they believed her. And of course when they were little they were told that democracy is American and invented by our glorious bourgeois founding fathers, so when assholes screaming about how the President is a socialist, and the founding fathers blah blah blah [insert right wing nationalist dribble here] it just further instills their misguided beliefs.
As to why they vote against their class interest, it's their only option. They get to choose between two factions of the Business Party so whichever faction they choose, they're shooting themselves in the foot.
The role of religion should also be considered as well. Many working class individuals are lured into vehemently supporting one or the other of these factions (usually the one that rhymes with befublican) by their religious bias. They figure their economic situation won't be improved by either option so why not choose the one that hates gays, loves fighting imperial holy wars against "those terrorist muslims", and wants to take away womens' birth control. The Ruling Class knows they can make people do backflips by manipulating their religion, thats how you can get hundreds of thousands of people to throw their money into some capitalists pocket on the 1st of August because he said gays are bad and god is good. A lot of Neoliberal/proto-Fascist policies are the by-product of religious voting.

[Beeth]

Religion could be one reason. Some poor people go against their own interests and consistently vote for a pro-rich party as long as the party promises ban on gay marriage or abortion etc. in short, the poor care more about ideas than they do about their material conditons. Politician simply exploit this weakness.

[Beeth]

A few things I like to remind people of:

1 - Yes, sometimes someone from a working class background DOES make it out against the odds and becomes stupendously wealthy, however statistically this is miniscule compared to the amount of people who either don't make it out or are killed outright by gang violence, are conditioned by a terrible education and by a system designed to segregate and/or cause them to fail utterly, etc. etc.

2 - The billionaires of today are either people who inherited their money or people who make all their money on the backs of the working class via capital gains, etc. etc... and even these people could not be who they are if not for the communities in which they were raised, which supplied their mental framework completely, nor could they have built their vast fortunes if it hadn't been for brilliant and talented people who worked for them. Entrepreneurship should really be something close to a myth -- there are pathetically low rates of people who can start a business and have it succeed in this country.

I find myself listening to radio ads now for people wanting to buy ideas. DO you have an idea? It asks -- well someone wants to buy it for cheap and use their economic leverage to make their fantastic wealth even more so.

The temproarily embarrassed millionaires.. well I think Thomas Franks' book What's The Matter With Kansas really explains that one quite well.. suffice to say people who suffer a lot or see no hope have to have SOMETHING to keep them going.. they keep their illusions because the truth would enrage them and cause them to start revolting. As Marx so presciently said, break the chain, cull the living flower.

Something I noted which is somewhat unrelated:

White pride people are the trashiest whites -- they hang on to 'race' because otherwise they have no leverage on brown and blacks, whom society looks on with disdain because of racism. etc. etc.

Good post. Race pride and such are the only options (no matter how crazy and extreme) for those who have nothing else to hold on to. This itself, albeit indirectly, proves that capitalism has failed, yet people continue to have faith ... for, as you said, truth hurts. The result being, crazy ideologies like racism, new age etc. take root.

[The_Red_Spark]

I wanted to add something I feel is relevant to the first point in RedHammer's post. Capitalism is a kind of ultimate self validator for many. By this I mean in the psycho-analyst sense of the word. People are always in search of personal validation in varying forms and in consideration of the myth that hard work+intelligence=success and wealth, it works as a way of validating those who achieve wealth, regardless of size or scope, and drives those who think they are just days away from a breakthrough equaling validation and success. It is like racism in that it places one person or group above the other by furthering the assumption that only the dumb and lazy are poor under capitalism and only the smart, savvy and hard working find success. You could also compare it to a person who equates sex with concepts like beauty and love. It is such an oversimplification to view hardwork and intelligence as the sole factors that determine success but much of this is due to ignorance, denial, or self deceit.

In this way it serves to supplant a traditional source of validation like praise from a parent or other forms of social proof like acceptance etc. It can also be rightly considered in this context to be a sign of "herd mentality". People of this mindset often have gross distorted views on society that are constructed to not only act as validators for their sense of self and self worth, but also act as motivators to continue what seem as obviously fruitless endeavors to outsiders who see things more clearly and or completely. This is why I compare it to racism or sex. It is also self perpetuating. Meaning small strides toward the intended goal equals validation and a continuation of the same concept, behavior and trajectory. This take is devoid of consideration that such strides are commonplace and happen to those who are not hard working, of a specific race, or to people who are beautiful as well.