Democratic politics has merged with commercial product marketing

Evidence

While during this period the development of the welfare state strengthened popular support for democracy, privatist trends towards depoliticization already emerged in the course of the development of a consumer society (whose beginnings I probably overemphasized in Structural Transformation in the climate of the Adenauer period, which was experienced as authoritarian). — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 27 (#complicates, via linked claim)

For just as electoral democracy postulates the equivalence of citizens (each of whom counts as one and only one) within any given party, so market strategies assume the equivalence of buyers (each of whom counts as one) within any given niche. In both cases the choosing subject is a statistical object to be targeted, added to or separated from other individuals. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 738 (#complicates, via linked claim)

We showed a significant negative correlation between the level of CPA and customer satisfaction. In this respect, the genuine duty of a company to serve the customers and market needs to its satisfaction is fading towards a minor priority. Resources and strategic direction cannot easily be shifted towards a market focus due to strategic inertia in the CPA focus of the company. Through the historic evolution of a firm, especially within former monopolistic markets such as infrastructure industries, and through self-reinforcing mechanisms, firms are vulnerable to losing their market focus. Thus, they fall back in competition if regulatory changes, such as the liberalization within the European Union, take place. — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 414 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Neoliberal parties replaced mass-member pressure with marketing to atomized voters — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 144; Media representation and the market represent each other while democracy remains unrepresentable — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 758; Advertising’s suspicion-inducing logic extends to political propaganda (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Consumer society bred depoliticization even as welfare states strengthened democracy #complicates (0.75) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 27
• Democracy and markets both reduce choosers to interchangeable statistical objects #complicates (0.73) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 738
• Heavy political-activity focus erodes firms’ customer focus and competitiveness. #complicates (0.71) — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 414
• Democratic government exists partly to override citizens’ own consumer impatience #complicates (0.70) — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere, 408