Word: boorstins
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...Boorstin leaves us with a vivid picture of the "vague, attenuated, switchable" nature of modern society-a society which rests on assumptions and expectations which tacitly moderate social behavior. In a society whose opinions are at least partiaily manufactured by the agencies which supposedly chart opinion, the desire to initiate thought has been replaced by a vague but far-reaching impulse to think alike. The voluntary aspect of government by consent has been voluntarily subordinated to the needs and demands of "government by standard of living...
...standard of living" society, the community of the "?lent majority," then, is close-minded. Progressive thought, which threatens social equilibrium, is hardly tolerated. The political system, here and abroad, the self-sustaining standard-of-living ideal, the American way of life. Boorstin has coined a phrase, the "self-fulfilling prophecy," which perfectly describes the circular thrust of America's standard of living ideology. Tocqueville saw the same tendency in 1830 when he declared. "The majority lives in the perpetual utterance of self-applause...
...second part of his book, Mr. Boorstin reveals the extent to which the Consumption Community has fostered dissent, particularly through the media...
Like Spiro Agnew, Boorstin calls for "more attractive programs, affirming institutions." provoking "disagreement" rather than "dissent." Yet his earlier point is undeniable: the media design their programs not to insure community values but to satisfy the public, through the advertisers, the Nielsen ratings, and more furtive psychological methods. The vicarious, cathartic and self-protective needs of the viewer must be changed; only then will the television programs be able to reflect this change. Until then, the standard-of-living society will continue to exacerbate the discontented radical minority...
Consequently, potentially constructive disagrees have been driven to dissent out of pure frustration. And now, Boorstin writes, when the spirit of dissent "seeks the dignity and privilege of disagreement" it is "entitled to neither...