Political apathy can be sanctioned as the system’s healthy basis

Evidence

According to such opinion, a certain measure of political apathy was healthy (as Janowitz put it), and the existence of a behavioural type consisting of non-political citizens who gave their assent to the system was seen as needing to be positively acknowledged in the long term, since this formed the very basis of the system (as Schelsky put it in his book, The Sceptical Generation). By contrast, Habermas appealed to the idea of democracy'explicitly acknowledging his debt to Critical Theory’. Quoting from an aphorism in the Dialectic of Enlightenment, he stated that Critical Theory’s freedom consisted of the fact that `it accepts bourgeois ideals, either those that are still promulgated by the representatives of the bourgeoisie, although in distorted forms, or those that can still be recognized as giving objective significance to technical and cultural institutions, despite having been manipulated in every way.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2341

Categorization

• XREF: Directly inverts Kirchheimer’s view that liberal legal forms protect liberty beyond capitalist needs (ch34), and connects to Adorno on anti-communism as acceptable prejudice outlet (ch63). — connects to: Reform-minded dissent within a system strengthens rather than threatens it; Authoritarian political systems can shape minds that preserve the status quo — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2932; The system neutralizes opposition by absorbing critique into indifference — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 539 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• The system neutralizes opposition by absorbing critique into indifference #expands (0.90) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 539
• Critiques conducted within political discourse reinforce the system they claim to scrutinize #expands (0.88) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 446
• Reform-minded dissent within a system strengthens rather than threatens it #expands (0.85)
• The right benefits from demobilization because apathy aids defending property. #expands (0.85) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 159
• A system tolerates and rewards dissent that stays within its boundaries #expands (0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 340
• The administrative state produces unpolitical citizens within a political society #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2337
• Ordinary people’s refusal can topple even entrenched systems of power #contradicts (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1661
• Authoritarian political systems can shape minds that preserve the status quo #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2932
• Totalitarian indifference to mass interest shattered utilitarian assumptions in politics. #exemplifies (0.75)