The Rich Control The Poor
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Politics and Activism

The Rich Control The Poor

What type of democracy do we live in if we are not in control of what goes on in our everyday lives?

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The Rich Control The Poor
Socialist Project

Founding member of the Communist Party of Italy, Antonio Gramsci, was a neo-Marxist. This is a term loosely used to define twentieth-century approaches to Karl Marx’s concept that class struggle plays a central role in understanding society's development, also referred to as “Marxists.” He was a politician who contributed many of his own theories to Karl Marx’s work, but his own work goes much further than this. Gramsci popularized terms such as cultural hegemony, false consciousness, and societal ideologies which helped develop his work and further explain his belief that, simply put, the rich rule the poor without the poor knowing it. What type of democracy do we live in if we are not in control of what goes on in our everyday lives? Also, our democracy is failing us but, somehow, we are still okay (in the sense of our daily lives and realities). Gramsci theorized that as religion has control over peoples lives- more so then the rich ruling the poor -the rich also control society as a whole.

Gramsci, throughout all his work, was influenced by Karl Marx. He agreed with a lot of Marx’s theory and even added onto some of it. According to Revise Sociology.com, Marx’s approach stated that there is a limited amount of power in society which can only be held by one person or group at a time. Marx believed these groups were the working and ruling classes. This leads to the basis of Marxism; under capitalism the ruling class holds all the power and exploits the working class, just as Gramsci thought. If he is correct, the rich currently rule over all of the working class and they have no control over it.

A very important concept to remember is that of which famous sociologist Ralph Miliband brought to light (who is often described as “one of the best known academic Marxists of his generation”), stating “political power in society is held by those who control the economic base,” (Revise Sociology 2011). This is important because the majority of the economy is ruled by the rich. The 2014 Social Stratification in the United States, book and poster by Stephen J. Rose, shows that the upper class is only 1% of the U.S. population while the working class is 30%. If Miliband is correct, this means that our economy today is ruled by the rich. Also meaning, according to Miliband, the working class is being controlled entirely by them. The fight against poverty in the lower and middle classes will not be won until the inequality crisis is tackled and the upper class is treated as equally as the middle class.

Something to keep in mind is that Antonio Gramsci accepted this analysis but made a correction that the ruling class did not rule at all. Gramsci’s idea, here, acts as a counterargument to the idea that the rich rule the poor. This is where Gramsci made his defining differences to what Karl Marx believed. Rather than there being a struggle between the ruling class and working class, Gramsci believed the ruling class was the driving force of moving society forward. Now, he felt this was done through different ideologies. To understand what Gramsci means by this, one must understand his perspective of what ideology is. Gramsci brought up a new perspective on ideology, insinuating that it was not a system of ideas, but rather they are logically and factually sound. Ideologies, according to Gramsci, are psychological because they organize human masses and create consciousness for humans. So, Gramsci felt the ruling class gave this consciousness to the working class, which moved society forward rather then back. I believe he also means that ideologies are individual traits; they are community states of living (which is why, in this train of though, society goes forward). Consequently, viewing ideology as Gramsci did, it is not something amidst political activities but moreover something used for practical activities. Ideology provides people with rules of practical conduct and moral behavior. So, in this case ideology is like religion in the way that it gives groups of people unity, faith, and the conception of the world corresponding with a community as a norm. This view of ideology is altered when considering the idea of false consciousness.

The rich rule the economy, and whoever rules the economy has political power, so if the rich have control over society and everyone in it then the working class are those majorly affected. Marxists believe that the ruling class use their power to trick the working class into believing ideologies, (a system of ideas, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political policy) which is just one way in which they are affected. This leads into “false consciousness,” and its role being played between the ruling and working classes. False consciousness is a Marxist theory that claims people are unable to see things because they are being exploited and oppressed through social relations. The theory believes that people are raised with the inability to understand that there is even a problem. False consciousness proves the rich rule the poor. A main reason the ruling class puts these ideologies unto the working class is to ensure they retain power. These ideologies are given to the working class unknowingly. As stated before, this shows that the rich class is doing more then just ruling over people, rather ruling over all society. If the rich stay as the ruling class, then the working class will continue to be tricked into believing there is no problem.

Seeing that the ruling class have control over the working class, Gramsci identified there is two forms of political control: domination and hegemony. Hegemony is relevant when talking about the theory of false consciousness because of the circumstances our society faces today. Hegemony is leadership by one social group over others. When writing in depth about this, Gramsci created a new term known as “cultural hegemony,” which is the idea that a particular social group in a diverse society can rule other social groups. To put it straightforward, cultural hegemony is a way of saying rich people control everyone else. Unwittingly, Gramsci studied and wrote about two terms that are applicable to this very day. Cultural hegemony is the act of rich ruling over poor, while false consciousness is how the ruling class maintains its power.

Now connect Ralph Milibands theory that political power is ruled by those who control the economic base, to Antonio Gramsci’s concepts of false consciousness and cultural hegemony and here we have our society; a system not ruled by the many but rather the minority. According to Pew Reaearch.com, 50% of Americans are apart of the middle/working class opposed to only 21% in the rich/upper class, making the rich class the minority of American classes. Yet, they rule our economy. The rich controlling the rest as the working class get the short end of the stick. The definition of democracy states that it is a government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly through a system of representation; especially: rule of the majority. Still, somehow they are in control.

Another counterargument to take into consideration is Gramsci’s belief that even if a society had political form of control through cultural hegemony (as I have suggested), no form of control could carry itself through organized state power (democracy, in our case). Gramsci believed that in the long run the form of control had to have support by the majority of people in order to upkeep stability. In that logic, if the suggestion of false consciousness and cultural hegemony taking place in our society today is true, then our society will not be able to sustain itself. It will fail due to the fact that it is being ruled by the minority (the upper/rich class). In which democracy will not have failed us and the theory of the rich ruling the poor will have been proven wrong. In this case, the people (majority) will still have control.

Higher rates of return are a sign of greater productivity in the economy. The initial impact of higher returns is wider inequality earnings but the impact becomes more muted and may be reversed over time as young people invest more in their capital. The gap in income inequality between the upper and lower classes is not the reason for poverty, rather the more competitive and meritocratic a society, the harder to control and deal with poverty becomes. Meritocracy is when the government, or those in power of society, hold power over certain people selected for their ability. Here is where the points connect, if the rich ruling class is in political power (which is power over society) then they can also be holding false consciousness over the working class (who are those technically in poverty). The rich ruling class is placing ideologies in their heads, making them believe there is no problem in society. Not only that, but also using the working class for their ability to stay as the working class (For example, most common working class jobs are cashiers, cooks and teachers). This is meritocracy in action.

For a moment pretend I am correct. Admit to democracy failing us and to the working/middle class being controlled by the rich. Still, we have done nothing. For instance, if false consciousness is correct, our daily lives and decisions are being controlled on some level by the ruling class (otherwise known as the rich). Why is it that we do nothing? For the majority, we are all okay. The working class is still alive, even if technically in poverty. Is that it; the working class poverty of the united states is nothing compared to the lesser glanced at parts of the world. Working class income, though a major political issue, is enough to live. Had it not been then we would not be okay. But no, the middle/working class is still alive one way or another. Our lives do not reflect a failing system. There are mishaps such as lack of jobs or low income pay, but even that is not being blamed on the system. Issues such as those are instead being put on immigrants; Mexicans, Muslims or Africans. They are being blamed when in reality it is the fault of those ruling the economy; rich, ruling upper class. Statistically, immigrants help boost the economy, yet there being blamed for breaking it.

Through Antonio Gramsci’s definition of cultural hegemony, I have come to find that money equals power (to put it simplest). The rich have economic power, and as Miliband has stated, economic power equates to political power, which makes them the ruling class. However, if democracy is ruled by the “many” then our democracy is failing us. The compelling point to realize is that even as we face a failing democratic society, we are seemingly okay. The world is not ending, as far as anyone can tell thus yet, and there are not people running mad through the streets yelling it is the end of days. Now the difficult part is elaborating on why it is that we are okay. In my head if the phrase “our system is failing” came up, I would imagine something much more horrifying then what is happening right now. Could this by what Antonio Gramsci was talking about? It can be one of two things. One, if we see ideologies as Gramsci did then our democratic system is not failing us, rather we are moving it forward into further progression. Or two, if false consciousness is correct, then we are being tricked to believe that there is nothing wrong with our democratic system and the rich do not rule the working class. When in reality it is falling apart without us knowing it. We may be living in a society where Gramsci was correct and rich cannot rule the working class, therefore democracy is upheaving and the majority rule. Or, democracy has failed us and we are believing whatever it is the ruling class places as our ideologies. Through this, the rich become richer and the poor-poorer. Proving, the rich are controlling the poor.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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