What we mean when we talk
about alienation
Since 1966,
alienation has become the America way of life
Dictionary definitions of
"alienation" vary of course. A quick visit to an online dictionary
finds commentary ranging from the psychological, "alienation,
the state of being withdrawn or isolated from the objective world, as
through indifference or disaffection."
To the philosophical,
"a state of estrangement
between the self and the objective world or between different parts
of the personality." Or the political:
"Marxism holds that
workers in capitalist nations are alienated because they have no
claim to ownership of the products they make."
And, "alienation is most
often associated with minorities, the poor, the unemployed, and other
groups who have limited power to bring about changes in
society." To the sociological:
"in social science,
alienation is associated with the problems caused by rapid social
change, such as industrialization and urbanization, which has broken
down traditional relationships among individuals and groups and the
goods and services they produce." And
then this: "A
withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from
an object or position of former attachment, as from the values of
one's society and family ." 1
Any these definitions certainly apply to
Harris alienation polling which has asked a sampling of Americans
five questions for more than forty years to measure how alienated we
feel "from society and those with political and economical power."
The most recent poll produced a "Harris Alienation Index" of 56 (the
more alienated we feel, the higher the index), "the highest level of
alienation during the presidency of George W. Bush."
2
This finding dovetails with negative polling
covering the administration, its performance, its war management, its
reaction to domestic disasters, and the current economy; but what's
surprising is that the Harris Alienation Index hasn't changed
direction since it first tracked significantly upward alienation
trends during the Nixon administration in 1972-3. The alienation
index actually peaked in the late Bush I - early Clinton
administrations in the early 1990s, and reached a post-Vietnam War
era low following 9/11 in 2001. Alienation has since trended upward
again to the current high of 56. In other words, Americans have felt
relatively and seriously alienated from society and those with
political and economical power, since about 1974.
Not surprisingly, if we look at voter
turnout (as a percentage of voting age population) over that same
time frame, we find a mirror trend, from a high voter turnout of
63.1% in 1960, through a low of 49% in 1996, to a current turnout of
about 55% in 2004. (Off year national elections have also trended
down about 10% less voter turnout over the same period, from 47% in
1962 to current a 37%.) 3
So what do these trends tell us? First of
all, over the life of the Harris poll we find Americans began
seriously disconnecting "from society and those with political and
economical power" at about the same time they realized that President
Richard M. Nixon, elected to his second term, and his secretary of
state Henry Kissinger were not going to end the war in Vietnam.
Americans have turned out to vote in fewer numbers ever since. So if
our national cynicism began then, it has never returned to anything
near the historic optimism (a historic low alienation index of 29)
which Harris found during the Johnson administration, in 1966.
Apparently an alienation fault line opened at that point in American
history, and in a very real political sense, Americans have not
looked back since.
Secondly, we can be certain most Americans
are overwhelmingly alienated on two specific issues: "the rich get
richer and the poor get poorer," and, "the people in Washington are
out of touch with the rest of us," -- two questions which
consistently triggered the highest alienated response (around 75)
over the decades -- indicating that we view ourselves as most
alienated from society and power elites in both economical and
political terms. Scholar and critic Noam Chomsky might see these
generational trends as reflections of what he calls, "democracy
deficit," that is the gap between government interests and its
failure to respond to known public interests, which he argues
ultimately deprives democratic institutions of any real
substance.
If we look at Americans polled by Harris
demographically over time, however, we find the alienation index
shifts somewhat, more along lines of, "haves," "have nots," and "have
mores." Over time, women poll consistently more alienated than men,
for example, while African Americans poll more alienated than either
Whites or Hispanics. And, generally, over time, the lower the
educational level, the higher the belief or feeling of alienation.
Also by political party, tracked by Harris polling since 1997,
Democrats and Independents are more likely to "believe or feel"
alienated, than are Republicans. Nonetheless, even Republicans have
become increasingly alienated, with their alienation index rising
from 34 in 2003, to a current high of 46 as of last month.
Politically, Harris concludes:
The situation may
actually be somewhat worse for the president when one considers
the trends for some individual questions. Specifically:
&emdash; Those who
believe that "the people running the country don’t really
care what happens to you" have increased six points since last
year, from 53 percent to 59 percent;
&emdash; Those who
believe that "most people with power try to take advantage of
people like you" have risen three points from 54 percent last year
to 57 percent;
&emdash; Those who
believe that "the people in Washington are out of touch with the
rest of the country" have increased seven points, from 68 percent
last year to 75 percent this year.
However, when viewing alienation trends over
eight presidencies, the current situation is not all that unusual.
Despite the current unpopularity of President George W. Bush, and the
widening financial gulf between the very rich and the middle class,
the level of alienation is currently lower than it was in six of the
eight years when President Bill Clinton was in the White House. It's
clear, that overtime, the level of alienation runs deeper in the
public perception than the mere popularity of incumbent presidents: *
Under George W. Bush, the Alienation Index has averaged 53
* Under Bill
Clinton, it averaged 62
* Under George H.W. Bush, it averaged 62
* Under Ronald Reagan, it averaged 57 *
Under Jimmy Carter, it averaged 55
* Under Gerald Ford, 57. [Harris]
Which means other factors, such as Bush I
and Clinton administration reactions to the collapse of the Soviet
Union, divergent war or economic or taxation policies, perhaps even
aging generations and millennium optimism, may spike momentary
optimism in an American public which has come to view itself as
otherwise permanently alienated. A situation that calls out for
leadership to change a social context that does not bode well for the
future of American democracy.
*
Robert
Philbin, contributing editor,
nichenews.com
Notes
1 Dictionary.com/7
results for: alienation
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alienation
2 The Current
State of Alienation
In this new survey, the Index was
computed by averaging the percentages of adults who now agree with
the five questions:
* 73 percent believe that "the rich
get richer and the poor get poorer";
* 59 percent that "the people running the country don’t
really care what happens to you";
* 57 percent that "most people with power try to take advantage of
people like you" ;
* 55 percent feel that "what you think doesn’t count very
much any more" ;
* 36 percent feel that "you’re left out of things going on
around you"
November 8, 2007/ Harris
Poll’s "Alienation Index" Rises Slightly to Highest Level in
Bush Presidency
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=829
2 National
Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-2004
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html
