(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Decivilizing America [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-17 Decivilising Russia 16 March 2023 Svetlana Stephenson To understand the reasons behind this major shift, we must first turn not to the populace itself, but rather to those who rose to power during the post-Soviet transition. Their social background, biographies, behaviour, and character are more significant here than the attitudes and feelings of the citizens they lead. The path of decivilisation Historical sociologist Norbert Elias wrote that in order to understand the level of violence in a society, one has to look at the coalitions that wield power and determine whether there are forces among them that are interested in peaceful development. Historically, the latter group has included, according to Elias, feudal courts, the bourgeoisie, and the middle class, which he saw to be the driving belts of the “civilising process” that helped displace violence from public life. The state’s monopoly on the use of force, as well as the monetisation and commercialisation of society, were, in his view, at the heart of the success of the civilisational process in many European countries. As was the case with Hitler and his associates, (Russian), nationalist ideology gave both the authorities and the masses a sense of power and superiority. Revenge against the democrats who “ruined the country” and then against the West, from which Putin and his entourage felt peripheral, was long overdue, taking shape as a clear intention after the Bolotnaya Square protests in 2011 and the annexation of Crimea three years later. Norbert Elias, 1897-1910, was a German sociologist who later became a British citizen. He is especially famous for his theory of civilizing/decivilizing processes. Elias' theory focused on the relationship between power, behavior and emotion, vs. facts, and knowledge over time. He significantly shaped what is called process or concern for process, not state. Elias work gained significance after he published The Civilizing Process in 1969 which defined the decivilization process. Elias work was based on his deconstruction of the Hitlers rise to power and the demise of democracy in Germany. I will leave a more nuanced analysis to what is happening in the United States of America to more knowledgeable students of sociology, but Elias theory mirrors much of what we are seeing in American society today. Growing wealth disparity along with increased isolationism among the wealthy. Facts and knowledge is being replaced by conspiracy theories and claims of liberals challenges of anti-democratic rhetoric as personal attacks and suppression of free speech. We are seeing the decivilization process on steroids in Florida as DeSantis fights to displace trump as the standard-bearer of conservatism. DeSantis has attacked every thing from Disney World to American History in defense of conservative ideology he perceives to be under attack by left leaning judges, educators and activists. We have a long way to go before the 2024 elections are decided, but it provides a lot of opportunity for the likes of DeSantis to whip up the emotions of his followers by undermining the facts and knowledge that are the foundation of our Democracy. Our fragile Democracy may not survive another Jan 6. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/17/2158785/-Decivilizing-America Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/