Primitive America : the ideology of capitalist democracy / Paul Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Paul, 1954 November 23-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capitalism--United States.

Capitalism.

United States.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

United States--Civilization.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

xv, 135 pages ; 22 cm

Other Title:

Ideology of capitalist democracy

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2007]

Summary:

One of the most confounding aspects of American society-the one that perhaps most frequently perplexes observers both domestic and foreign-is the vast contradiction between what anthropologists might term the "hot" and "cold" elements in the culture. The hot encompasses the dynamic and progressive aspects of a society. In contrast, the cold embodies fundamentalisms of all kinds-in short, the primitive.

In Primitive America, cultural critic Paul Smith contemplates this primary contradiction as it has played out in the years since 9/11. More radically still, Smith attests that this underlying stress is driven by America's unquestioned devotion to the elemental propositions and processes of capitalism. This devotion, Smith argues, has become America's quintessential characteristic, and he begins this book by elaborating on the idea of the primitive in America-its specific history of capital accumulation, commodity fetishism, and cultural narcissism. Smith goes on to track the commencement of the "Long War" against "violent extremists," the nature of American imperialism, the status of the U.S. Constitution, the militarization of America's economy and culture, and the Bush administration's disregard for human rights. An urgent and important engagement with current American policies and practices, Primitive America is, at the same time, an incisive critique of the ideology that fuels the ethos of America's capitalist culture.

Contents:

Preamble

"We" and "you"

Dialectics

Freedom, equality, democracy

Love and contradiction

What is not allowed to be said

Narcissistic symbols

Narcissistic refraction

Subject of value

Historical fictions

Primitive

Fetishism

Atavism

Primitive accumulation

Imperial power

Meaningless politics

Ideologues

Fascism

Legal matters

Animals

Human rights

Precarious politics.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-132) and index.

ISBN:

9780816628261

0816628262

9780816628278

0816628270

OCLC:

73993045