Culture of Conformism

Hogan Patrick Colm Hogan

Description

"[Hogan's] goal is not merely to explain but to provide tools of understanding that will be of practical value to those who struggle for justice and freedom. Drawing from an impressive array of sources, his valuable study advances both ends considerably, no mean accomplishment."-Noam ChomskyIn this wide-ranging and informative work, Patrick Colm Hogan draws on cognitive science, psychoanalysis, and social psychology to explore the cultural and psychological components of social consent. Focusing in particular on Americans' acquiescence to a system that underpays and underrepresents the vast majority of the population, Hogan moves beyond typical studies of this phenomenon by stressing more than its political and economic dimensions.With new insights into particularly insideous forms of consent such as those manifest in racism, sexism, and homophobia, The Culture of Conformism considers the role of emotion as it works in conjunction with belief and with the formation of group identity. Arguing that coercion is far more pervasive in democratic societies than is commonly recognized, Hogan discusses the subtle ways in which economic and social pressures operate to complement the more obviously violent forces of the police and military. Addressing issues of narcissism, self-esteem, and empathy, he also explains the concept of "rational" conformity-that is, the degree to which our social consent is based on self-interest-and explores the cognitive factors that produce and sustain social ideology.Social activists, economic theorists, social psychologists, and political scientists will be intrigued and informed by this book.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Sociology
• Social theory

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 17 avril 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822380375
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Culture of Conformism

The Culture of Conformism

Understanding Social Consent

Patrick Colm Hogan

Duke University Press

Durham and London 2001

∫2001 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$ Typeset in Quadraat by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

To my nieces, Erin, Maggie, and Maureen

contents

Social Stratification and the New Conformism

119

1

1

3

Rational Acquiescence: The Police and the Marketplace

Cognitive Structure and the Example of Racism

161

three

acknowledgments

introduction

viii

8

5

twoBelief and Consent

one

four

afterword

171

index

works cited

7

8

156

Working against Injustice

Ideology and Emotion

acknowledgments.I am grateful to two anonymous referees and the members of the Duke University Press editorial board for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript, and to Jerry Phillips and Stanley Fish for their support of this project. I am indebted to Nicole Consentino, Rebecca Johns-Danes, Laura Sell, and Sharon Parks Torian of Duke University Press for their help and expert handling of the manuscript, and to Cindy Milstein for thoughtful copyediting. Most of all, I would like to thank Reynolds Smith for his careful reading of several versions of this manuscript, insightful criticism, and continuous help and encouragement.

Et personne ne se révolte. Pourquoi? C’est incompréhensible. —mohammed dib,La grande maison