An examination of the "Initial stress" that prompts fascist sympathies

 

For many Americans, the loss of factory work, and the transition to a service and retail based economy
has been an enormous source of stress. 

    In the last essay in this series, there was a list of the four stages of the ego-maintenance process. Those four stages are: 

1. The initial stress

2. The perception of failure

3. Introduction of the agitator

4. Reinforcement

This essay will offer a more thorough introduction to the initial stress phase of that process. The last essay gave a brief description of the initial stress phase: "The individual with neurotic and authoritarian tendencies experiences a life stress that prevents him or her from equaling or exceeding the prosperity they grew up with. For movements that result in acts of extreme violence, this initial stress may be considered analogous to the "pre-crime stress" which precedes the first horrific act of violence by a serial killer. In Weimar Germany the source of stress was the fallout from the First World War, which included economic uncertainty, and for many families the loss of a generation of young men. In the modern day US, the source of stress is the economic fallout that has come from the out-sourcing of jobs, the loss of factory work in many parts of the country, and an economy that has transitioned to a retail and service based focus that many young men are not equipped for due to their lack of tact and social skills." It is important to note that this initial stress phase should be considered unique from the "perception of failure" phase, as the first has to do with the presence of conditions that are external to the individual. The perception of failure phase has to do with how the neurotic authoritarian reacts to that stress. 

    It is important to reiterate that it's not just the experience of stress, or difficulty finding a good paying job that makes someone into a fascist. When faced with financial difficulties, some will find or create new opportunities that allow them to become more prosperous than ever. Others will struggle for a brief period, but eventually manage to find a position in life where they are able to enjoy a level of prosperity comparable to what they enjoyed before. Others may suffer a substantial downgrade in their standard of living, and will rightfully be depressed and angry about that outcome, but they will not resort to political radicalization or calls for violence as a coping mechanism. In a society where the rule of law is functional, and individuals are able to enjoy equal treatment before the law, is only the neurotic authoritarian who responds to personal difficulties by calls for the removal of other social groups, and who seeks to maintain their own self-image by denigrating others. 

    As mentioned in the thumbnail description repeated above, the benchmark of what constitutes prosperity for most Americans is derived from comparing their lifestyle to that which they enjoyed as children. It should come as no surprise that a rise in political radicalization has occurred at the same time that Millennials have become the first generation to largely end up worse off financially than their parents generation. A combination of student loan debt, reduced wages for those without a college degree, and high housing costs have left many younger Americans feeling that they aren't nearly as well off as their parents were. (Luby, T., 2020) While more moderate Americans respond to this condition with an attitude of resignation, those with neurotic and authoritarian tendencies are more likely to develop a powerful resentment against American society, which makes them likely prospects for a radicalizing mass movement. 

    The decline in prosperity for many Americans may be described by something called "Sapped Economy theory".  (Several years ago I published a small book about Sapped Economy theory, but have since pulled it from the Amazon store for revisions.  I will be re-publishing that work at some point in the next few years) Sapped economy theory holds that as wealth begins concentrating at the top of the income scale, there is a diminishing incentive for any substantial new investment in an economy. Therefore, wealthy investors will begin focusing an increasing amount of attention on what are known as "hostage markets".  The phrase "hostage markets" refers to goods or services which have a very high opportunity cost - meaning the hardship a consumer would suffer by choosing to forego that good or service would be substantial. Right now in America the two most prevalent hostage markets are education and health-care, both of which have risen at rates that dramatically exceed inflation and income growth for over the past decade. The opportunity cost of forgoing education is having to try to earn a living with only a high-school diploma, something that's becoming increasingly more difficult in today's environment. Nobel prize winning economist Angus Deaton and his wife Anne Case chronicled many of the consequences of being an American worker without a college degree in their book Deaths of Despair and the Future of US Capitalism.  The opportunity cost of forgoing health-care can include living in chronic pain, suffering permanent disfigurement, or ending up dead. Never believe anyone who tries to argue that there is no penalty to going without education or health-care. 

    It should be noted that while it is easy to blame those increases on academics and physicians, they are not the ones who are responsible for the massive increase in costs. The increase in costs for both of those markets has come not from increases in the salaries of university professors or hospital physicians, but from the various private sector vendors that provide goods and services to these institutions. Examples are numerous and range from exorbitant subscription rates for academic journals to astronomical rates for liability insurance for college athletics programs, the enormous cost of medical equipment like MRI machines and outrageous prices for prescription drugs. As the share of national wealth and income held by the bottom 90% of income earners continues to shrink, the wealthiest 10% of Americans will try to continue to grow their wealth by charging ever higher premiums for access to these key services.

    Until the problem of increasing costs for hostage markets is addressed, there will be no way to effectively moderate American politics. People who possess neurotic and authoritarian tendencies, and who are frustrated over their condition in life tend to be impatient with long-winded descriptions of conditions, and eager for any answer that allows them to feel righteous anger. In the next essay in this series, I will describe a variety of actions and inaction by Congressional Republicans that have contributed to the hostage market problem.

  

Works Cited

Luhby, T. (2020, January 11). Many millennials are worse off than their parents -- a first in American         history. In CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/11/politics/millennials-income-            stalled-upward-mobility-us/index.html

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Image Credit: Abandoned Factory, Wikimedia Images. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ABANDONED_FACTORY_IN_RIVERSIDE,_A_SUBURB_OF_DULUTH_ON_THE_ST_LOUIS_RIVER_-_NARA_-_551586.jpg