Sociopathic society : a people's sociology of the United States / Charles Derber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Derber, Charles.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Avarice--United States.

Avarice.

Acquisitiveness--United States.

Acquisitiveness.

Violence--United States.

Violence.

United States.

Capitalism--United States.

Capitalism.

Values--United States.

Values.

United States--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

xii, 307 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, CO : Paradigm Publishers, [2013]

Summary:

Charles Derber introduces and vividly explains the idea of a "sociopathic society"-and why the idea has become necessary to understand today's world. Sociopathic society is rooted in governments and economies, not psychiatry. The book offers a new sociology of societies organized around antisocial values, which ultimately lead to societal and planetary self-destruction. Most of the sociopathic behaviors are perfectly legal and are perpetrated by governments, financial institutions, and corporate capitalism. Focusing on the United States, Derber connects the dots of the Wall Street meltdown, guns and murder, uninhibited greed, the 1% and the 99%, a new crisis of unemployable "surplus people," Hurricane Sandy and global warming, cheating scandals, and more-including the war on democracy itself. Book jacket.

Contents:

I. Sociopathic society

An anatomy of sociopathic society

II. Sociopathy and the new American dream

Introduction: sociopathic individualism and everyday life

The good man fills his own stomach: all-American crimes and misdemeanors

Conversational narcissism and sociopathic talk

Newtown is just the tip of the iceberg

III. Sociopathic capitalism

Is US capitalism antisocial?

Capitalist crises and capitalism against society

Manufacturing surplus people

The new robber barons

Sins of the corporate regime

Romney's "47 percent" blunder reveals the hidden heart of his agenda (with Yale Magrass)

Sociopathic globalization

Kochamamie democracy

IV. War and sociopathic foreign policy

Introduction: sociopathy and empire

American empire and its moral big stick (with Yale Magrass)

The "Wright problem" )with Yale Magrass)

What does it mean to call McCain a "war hero" candidate? (with Yale Magrass)

When wars come home (with Yale Magrass)

V. Climate change as sociopathy

Violence against the earth

How capitalism causes climate change

Hurricane Sandy, climate sociopathy, and the infrastructure crisis

Consumerism as sociopathy

VI. Fascism: the ultimate sociopathic society?

Sociopathy and the far right

Fascism lite

History's magic mirror: America's economic crisis and the Weimar Republic of pre-Nazi Germany (with Yale Magrass)

VII. Alternatives and activism

Introduction: beyond the sociopathic society

A. New American values and the New America

Women's values and a new America

Capitalism: big surprises in recent polls

The new America is not about identity politics

The democracy deficit is the real deficit (with Paul Shannon)

B. Alternative systems

The UN, the barbershop, and global democracy

Alternatives to sociopathic capitalism

Will the world be ruled by money or human rights?

C. Activism and what you can do

What you can do now

From bowling alone to Bowling Green.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781612054377

1612054374

9781612054384

1612054382

OCLC:

851572769