The rich are as trapped by economic rationality as the poor
Evidence
The bourgeoisie, at any rate, has remained pure even in its late phase from any such penchants. None but the déclassés dance out of line on the volcano. Subjectively too, society life is so thoroughly stamped by the economic principle, whose kind of rationality spreads to the whole, that emancipation from egoistic interests, even merely as an intellectual luxury, is denied to it. Just as they are incapable of themselves enjoying their immeasurably increased wealth, they are unable to think against themselves. To no avail the quest for frivolity. The perpetuation of the real difference between upper and lower strata is assisted by the progressive disappearance of differences in the mode of consciousness between the two. The poor are prevented from thinking by the discipline of others, the rich by their own. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 193
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Economic rationality reduces individuals to obstacles in the production process; Individualism intensifies the moral idealization of wealth as society fragments; Democracy’s redistributions function as asset insurance for the rich. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 60 (+1 more)