Oldal 42 [42]
OCR
AO | Tue Puttosopuy or Eco-Po rics in other words, democracy. The members of the new elite, as many have pointed out since Christopher Lasch’s book The Revolt of the Elites, depend only on each other and move within their own communicative network, which is independent of physical distance and any local environment. They represent no-one and feel solidarity with no-one. ‘The arenas of their life and the stages of their career develop according to the inner laws of a world limitlessly broad but carefully concealed from outsiders. These changes are concealed by the processes taking place in the particular local societies. The great losers of these are the middle classes. The small and mid-size enterprises are destroyed by the unequal competition and bought up by the international networks that rule the market. Similar processes occur within the sphere of intellectual as well. A tiny fraction of scientists, artists, doctors, lawyers, engineers and media experts acquire a previously unimaginable fame, standing and wealth and become part of the local and global elite. Meanwhile, the majority of white-collar occupations lose the majority of their independence and prestige and become ever more vulnerable to the business ventures and business attitude (suffice it to mention the welldocumented changes in the mass media) which swallow up the intellectual career-paths as well — or less commonly to the aggressively centralising state bureaucracy, perhaps both. This change does not necessarily affect their income, but instead the independence, creativity and social standing of their work and, above all, their social status. But the middle class or bourgeoisie is not usually defined primarily in financial terms. The groups that belong here possess sufficient intellectual and financial independence to influence and exercise control over the operation of the government. In this respect, globalisation means not only the decline of the privileged position, independence and influence of the middle classes, but also that something similar is happening to governments and even to nation states themselves. As we have seen, their political room for manoeuvre has in reality become even more restricted than could be supposed from the limitation of their sovereignty. ‘The paradox of globalisation is that while the civilisational patterns that have risen to dominance originate from Western democracy, it is exactly these changed political conditions which have placed seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the path of democratic governance. In economic terms, democracy has actually become a comparative disadvantage. For a dictatorship does not have to concern itself with the
