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The powerless mass…

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After more than five decades, the arguments of C W Mills still hold good to understand and analyze the present societal mechanisms. In the last half of twentieth century we have seen two major global trends- formation of a more uni-polar world and developments in Information technology and media.

Mills discussed three main processes that influenced masses, namely roles of leadership/ politician, mass-media and structural trend of society. Though we have seen some changing faces of democracy and leadership; but the basic elements/ intensions remain the same (e.g. - the ancestors of Nehru family are still ruling India). With the change of time politicians have modulated and modified their leadership strategy; but the true voices of people still remain mostly unrepresented. On the other hand, mass media and other interactive media (e.g.- internet, mobile devices) influenced the whole society significantly. They practically dictate the information exposure/ awareness level, computational ability level, and availability of options for decision making for individual/ society. Lastly, in the new structural trend, the societies became more individualistic and individuals became less aware about real-environments. It makes individuals more vulnerable and controllable, and thereby strengthens the power-elites. E.g. - In neoliberal setup, the control and bargaining power of labor force is reducing.

The unipolarity of power in contemporary world accelerates the neoliberal operations, and implementations initiatives of capitalist agenda. Fundamentally the process operates very methodically; that includes structural control, strong institutional hierarchy, and continuous coordination between economical, political and military powers/domains. To elaborate, I want to mention one aspect of it- the aspect of ‘fit’ corporate executive: which means, a ‘fit’ corporate executive ‘must meet the expectation of his superiors and peers; that in personal manner and political view, in social ways and business style…’ (p.141). Moreover, this process is highly coordinated; it ensures unity by interchangeability of roles of the representatives of the big three domains. In this manner, this united (& often invisible) and centralized ‘unhealthy’ mechanism established more and more control over the social processes and thereby increased the inequality in society.

As a member of Academia, we need to take initiatives to integrate/ organize and to raise consciousness among the affected population of the society. That may be one small step towards building a better, healthy and humane world.

Comments

Sydney D said…
I'm wondering, and I had a similar conversation with another student who isn't a critical scholar, how important is awareness raising in the critical project? Do you see raised consciousness as a catalyst to social change or simply an entry point for major cooptation by the hegemonic forces. For example, see my blog about the DePaul University professor who was raising awareness but had no intentions on actual social change/material change.
March 7, 2010 at 9:56 PM
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