But they don't know it.

They hate the idea of a company deciding to not publish a book because that book doesn't sell and hurts their brand image

They hate the idea of a company requiring their employees to be vaccinated even though they also hate unions and are in favor of "At-Will Employment" laws which basically allow companies to hire and fire for any reason.

They hate that small towns are being de-populated because their children have realized that the best way to get a decent job is to go to the cities.

They hate the fact that small/ local businesses are being swallowed up by huge corporations.

They hate the fact that people are choosing to have kids later and later in life because of how expensive it is to live.

The American social conservatives actually hate capitalism more than almost any other large demographic in America, but because they don't have material analysis, they don't realize that Capitalism either creates or directly contributes to many of the aspects of American life which they despise.

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    I feel like the people you are describing - the ones who are not materially well off - tend to fall into two categories:

    1. Folks who may dislike the things you describe but are too exhausted to care about it and feel like nothing can be done about it anyway.

    2. Folks who "hate capitalism" and what you describe, but those concerns are way down on the list of things they care about. They care way more about cultural war bullshit (itself usually a proxy war for things like white supremacy).

    Personally, I think working class folks with some conservative leanings but have largely given up and checked out (basically that first group) are actually "reachable" for us. That second group... not so much or at least not to the point where we should put our energy in to winning them over. I'd argue working class liberals (and yes, despite what Amber says not all liberals make six figures as psychotherapists or environmental lawyers or whatever) are more reachable than they are.

    Edit: oh and I left out that I'm a big fan of Settlers and I think that book has a lot to say about this. Basically white folks lack class consciousness because they have always been granted special status by the capitalists - they have been given special favor in exchange for helping prop up capitalism.