Ruling-class anti-intellectualism masks inherited stupidity as populism

Evidence

Stupidity, including the stupidity of language, ‘is not a natural quality, but one socially produced and reinforced’. However, ‘stultification is caused not by the oppressed but by oppression, and it affects not only the oppressed but, in their essentials, the oppressors as well’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1010 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Benedetto Croce, for example, is a kind of lay pope and an extremely efficient instrument of hegemony— even if at times he may find himself in disagreement with one government or another, etc.). This conception of the function of intellectuals, I believe, throws light on the reason, or one of the reasons, for the fall of the mediaeval communes, i.e. of the rule of an economic class which did not prove able to create its own category of intellectuals and thus exercise a hegemony as well as a dictatorship. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A ruling class needs its own intellectuals to exercise hegemony alongside coercion — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869; The ruling class controls mental production and regulates ruling ideas; Stupidity is socially produced and harms oppressors as much as the oppressed — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1010 (+2 more)

Related

• A ruling class lacking organic intellectuals cannot sustain hegemony (similarity 0.85)
• Internalized ruling-class anti-intellectualism exceeds state coercion in flattening culture (similarity 0.83)
• A ruling class needs its own intellectuals to exercise hegemony alongside coercion (similarity 0.83)
• Stupidity is socially produced and harms oppressors as much as the oppressed (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Stupidity is socially produced and harms oppressors as much as the oppressed #complicates (0.80) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1010
• A ruling class needs its own intellectuals to exercise hegemony alongside coercion #complicates (0.78) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869
• The ruling class controls mental production and regulates ruling ideas #expands (0.78)
• Right-wing populism embraces optimistic chaos against expert prediction rather than seeking security #qualifies (0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 291