Alienation in the Post Cold War Era
Chapter 1
Global Capitalism and the
Intensification of Human Alienation
Since the fall of the Soviet system and the introduction of capitalism in Russia, world leaders and the mass media have been portraying a rosy picture of our present and future. We are told that so-called “global free market capitalism” is expanding fairly smoothly. Western propaganda tells us that even the terrorists from the “axis of evil” can only inflict temporary wounds, which cannot halt the great triumph of global capitalism and its “freedom.” We are led to believe that the supposedly high standard of living in the Western world is finally beginning to expand into the Third World via global corporations. We are also led to believe that as soon as the latest recession has supposedly run its course, people in the dot-com culture will again be happy and content with their money and busy lifestyle.
If aliens visiting our world from outer space were able to see only the surface appearance of life in the developed world, they would be dazzled by the flashy neat gadgets that keep us busier and more entertained than ever. Visitors would see an enhanced entertainment industry, complete with hundreds of TV channels playing movies featuring good-looking people. They would also see well-fed people spending their spare time with fast and very powerful computers, and using the Internet, of course. If, however, our alien visitors belonged to a species that was not deceived by facades, they would not be impressed. Our world’s veneer of busy flashiness, created by the color and noise emitted from the newest gadgets and from the thousands of new Internet sites appearing daily, is designed to make us forget the dismal reality that lies underneath: the economic, social, and psychological misery of the majority.
The Reality: Overwork or Part-time Work with Extreme Busyness and Stress
The illusory show of prosperity does not deceive the average working person. Statistics confirm that the disparity between rich and poor is the highest since the Great Depression. The profits and standard of living of the rich have gone through the roof at the expense of working people and the poor. While the recession of 2001-02 hurt many dot-com yuppies, it did not seriously bruise the top elite, who have maintained their lavish lifestyles. On the other side of the tracks, however, many working class people were laid off. Those who kept their jobs have, at best, been working longer hours for the same salary.
The standard of living of working people in the U.S. has been deteriorating since the mid-1970s, when the economic boom that followed the Second World War began to wane. For the last twenty-five years, working class and many middle class families have no longer been able to maintain a 1960s-level standard of living with only one working person in the family. Today both the wife and the husband in many working class families must work full time, and even then they can barely achieve the standard of living that a family with one decent income could count on thirty years ago.