A society functionally merged with the state serves public purposes while privatizing citizens’ consciousness.

Evidence

Even though it is political in terms of its content, a society that is no longer in fact separate from the state, in spite of continuing to be separated from it by the proprieties of a liberal constitution, functionalizes its citizens increasingly to serve various public purposes, but privatizes them in their consciousness. According to this analysis, the contemporary period was at a cross-roads between manipulative politicization and genuine politicization, between an authoritarian welfare state and substantive democracy. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 577

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames the choice between ‘manipulative politicization’ and ‘genuine politicization,’ between authoritarian welfare state and substantive democracy.
• XREF: connects to: Rawls’s well-ordered society eliminates politics by relegating conflict to private life. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 129