Quote by Wolfgang Streeck on Democratic Capitalism and Social Contradictions

„Since the 1970s, the battlefields on which the contradictions of democratic capitalism are fought out have become ever more complex, making it exceedingly difficult for anyone outside the political and financial elites to recognize the underlying interests and identify their own. While this may generate apathy on the mass level and thereby make life easier for the elites, there is no relying on it, in a world in which blind compliance with financial investors is propounded as the only rational and responsible behavior. To those who refuse to be talked out of other social rationalities and responsibilities, such a world may appear simply absurd - at which the only rational and responsible conduct to throw as many as wrenches as into the works of haute finance. Where democracy as we know it is effectively suspended, as it already is in countries like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, street riots and popular insurrection may be the last remaining mode of political expression for those devoid of market power. Should we hope in the name of democracy that we will soon have the opportunity to observe a few more examples?“

Wolfgang StreeckWolfgang Streeck highlights the complex contradictions of democratic capitalism and the influence of elites and social protest.
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Wolfgang Streeck is a German sociologist.

Wolfgang Streeck critically analyzes the complex contradictions of democratic capitalism since the 1970s, highlighting the role of elites, democratic crises, and social protest.


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Wolfgang Streeck quote about democratic capitalism, financial elites, and political expression

Wolfgang Streeck is a German sociologist and emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. He has made significant contributions to sociology and social research, and is known for his work on societal and economic issues.

Wolfgang Streeck quote about political resignation and neoliberalismCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"Everything suggests that declining electoral participation in the capitalist democracies is a sign not of contentment but of resignation. The losers from the neoliberal turn cannot see what they might get from a change of government; the TINA (‘There is no alternative’) politics of ‘globalization’ has long arrived at the bottom of society where voting no longer makes a difference in the eyes of those who would have most to gain from political change. The less hope they invest in elections, the less those who can afford to rely on the market have to fear from political intervention. The political resignation of the underclasses consolidates the neoliberal turn from which it derives, further shielding capitalism from democracy." Wolfgang Streeck
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Quote image featuring Ingolfur Blühdorn discussing the challenges and disenfranchisement in modern democracy.Copyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"It has long been obvious in the Western tribal countries of democracy that the promises inherent in this concept will probably remain unfulfilled: Politics is losing ground dramatically to the power of the markets; supposedly democratic systems are firmly in the hands of powerfully organized interests and have less and less to do with popular sovereignty - if there ever was any. Social inequality and the disenfranchisement and reification of citizens as mere administrative objects or human resources are advancing inexorably - though every step of disenfranchisement is communicated as emancipatory gain." Ingolfur Blühdorn
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Quote by Prof. Rainer Mausfeld on the illusion of democracy and power dynamicsCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"But what could make democracy attractive to the powerful, whose very power it limits and threatens? The answer is quite simple: Nothing! For democracy means precisely to restrict the power needs of the powerful and the rich, in which they naturally have no interest. This now results in a tension between the needs of the rulers to stabilize their status and our need to feel socially autonomous and self-determined with regard to our social situation. In history, this fundamental tension has often been discharged in the form of revolutions. From the point of view of the rulers, how can this tension be defused if we want to avoid bloody revolutions? The solution lies in 'satisfying' the citizens' need for freedom with a surrogate, with a substitute drug, namely the illusion of democracy. To create such an illusion of democracy, one needs above all - and this is where the herd metaphor comes into play again - an ideology of justification that justifies why the people are immature and in need of leadership. Furthermore, the idea of democracy, which is so attractive to the people, must be emptied of its meaning so that it is limited only to an electoral act. And finally, continuous democracy management is needed to ensure that the people want what they are supposed to want in the act of voting." Prof. Rainer Mausfeld
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Quote image with words by Tony Cartalucci on global corporate-financier oligarchy and revolutionCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"These organizations represent the collective interests of the largest corporations on earth. They not only retain armies of policy wonks and researchers to articulate their agenda and form a consensus internally, but also use their massive accumulation of unwarranted influence in media, industry, and finance to manufacture a self-serving consensus internationally. To believe that this corporate-financier oligarchy would subject their agenda and fate to the whims of the voting masses is naive at best. They have painstakingly ensured that no matter who gets into office, in whatever country, the guns, the oil, the wealth and the power keep flowing perpetually into their own hands. [....] The real revolution will commence when we identify the above equation as the true brokers of power and when we begin systematically removing our dependence on them, and their influence on us from our daily lives. The global corporate-financier oligarchy needs us, we do not need them, independence from them is the key to our freedom." Tony Cartalucci
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Quote image featuring Professor Dr. Rainer Mausfeld discussing the destructive impact of elite democracyCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"More than 50 years of elite democracy have shown us where this road leads. It is the path of destruction. The destruction of community, the destruction of the idea of community, the destruction of life by the millions, the destruction of cultural and civilizational substance - especially in the Third World - and the destruction of our ecological foundations. The beneficiaries of this destruction have no reason to change this path of destruction. The necessary energy for change can only come from below - from us. That is our task and that is our responsibility." Professor Dr. Rainer Mausfeld
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Quote about the crisis of democracy by Arundhati RoyCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"Democracy, the modern world’s holy cow, is in crisis… every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. It has become little more than a hollow word, a pretty shell, emptied of all content or meaning. Democracy is the Free World’s whore, willing to dress up, dress down, willing to satisfy a whole range of tastes, available to be used and abused at will. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market means they are on sale to the highest bidder." Arundhati Roy
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