Shared cynical beliefs sharply distinguish activists from disengaged cynics

Evidence

Much recent social theory and newspaper editorial space condemns ”the cynical society,” saying cynicism makes earnest commitment impossible (Goldfarb 1991; Miller 1988, for example). The problem with that kind of analysis is that it cannot distinguish between the cynics and the activists, who, as I describe later, also often expressed opinions of political disgust, mistrust, and cynicism. The difference between the activists and the cynics was not just a difference in beliefs, but in implicit ideas of what interaction was for in the contexts where they met. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1152

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crisply distinguishes belief-level cynicism from interactional practice of disengagement.
• XREF: Aligns with the book’s overarching theme of understanding political disengagement via situated practice rather than attitude surveys. — connects to: Denouncing elites reinforces the cynicism that sustains capitalist realism. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 497; Noticing official lies radicalized EJ activists into government skepticism
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1152