Page 130 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 130
šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
ture dangers. On the contrary. This utopia speaks in line with the exist-
ing situation and push it to the extreme / ... / into even more technical
progress that will bring to salvation the American society« (Turk, 2011:
p. 222). Most important, the American technical utopia was widely ac-
claimed far beyond fictional literature. In the same way as it was written
and offered, in the form of a technocratic reformistic program, it was also
accepted and popularised. The true novelty of the technocratic movement
lies in the fact that in a time of crisis they succeeded to inspire new or-
ganisational principles that aimed at organising a nation as a whole in an
unprecedented manner and scale. Although explicitly antipolitical, these
principles were generally justified and promoted as the salvation of the re-
public and its founding ideals. Apparently the American creed so eagerly
oriented toward the future, toward the promise of prosperity by constant-
ly ameliorating and advancing its own living conditions, was voiced loud-
ly enough to demand a sacrifice even of its own founding ideals. For Croly,
as one of the referential representatives of the era, the first task his fellow
Americans are facing in front of keeping the Promise of prosperity alive is
»to emancipate from their past« (Croly, 1909: p. 5).
The rupture in the tradition of American liberalism will represent
our historical frame. In the first part of the following analysis, I will con-
sider especially ideas and concepts that introduced communication as a
new potential organizational tool and how their primary assumptions
and purpose subverted the elementary understanding and relations of the
political realm in order to enhance the actual state of affairs – to make an
industrial society function with adequate smoothness. In the central part
of this analysis, I will continue with focusing on selected Progressive dis-
cussions on efficiency that treated an emerging society of labourers and
consumers in terms of unity and sameness as necessary conditions for so-
cial progress and how they planned to secure it in a systematical way. In
the last part, I will try to show how the specific organisational principles
of the social realm along with its antipolitical characteristic paved the way
to a new form of perfected conformism and, consequently, how the basic
conditions of human existence were altered in an unprecedented manner.
The present attempt to analyse how conformism ceased to be something
imposed solely from the outside, but rather unfolds as something that is
reproduced in a mutual cooperation as a socially constitutive and func-
tional behaviour, perhaps offers a possibility for a different perspective on
the issue and helps to understand more thoroughly the most immediate
components of the so-called American way or The American dream be-
yond their mythical character and meaning.
128
ture dangers. On the contrary. This utopia speaks in line with the exist-
ing situation and push it to the extreme / ... / into even more technical
progress that will bring to salvation the American society« (Turk, 2011:
p. 222). Most important, the American technical utopia was widely ac-
claimed far beyond fictional literature. In the same way as it was written
and offered, in the form of a technocratic reformistic program, it was also
accepted and popularised. The true novelty of the technocratic movement
lies in the fact that in a time of crisis they succeeded to inspire new or-
ganisational principles that aimed at organising a nation as a whole in an
unprecedented manner and scale. Although explicitly antipolitical, these
principles were generally justified and promoted as the salvation of the re-
public and its founding ideals. Apparently the American creed so eagerly
oriented toward the future, toward the promise of prosperity by constant-
ly ameliorating and advancing its own living conditions, was voiced loud-
ly enough to demand a sacrifice even of its own founding ideals. For Croly,
as one of the referential representatives of the era, the first task his fellow
Americans are facing in front of keeping the Promise of prosperity alive is
»to emancipate from their past« (Croly, 1909: p. 5).
The rupture in the tradition of American liberalism will represent
our historical frame. In the first part of the following analysis, I will con-
sider especially ideas and concepts that introduced communication as a
new potential organizational tool and how their primary assumptions
and purpose subverted the elementary understanding and relations of the
political realm in order to enhance the actual state of affairs – to make an
industrial society function with adequate smoothness. In the central part
of this analysis, I will continue with focusing on selected Progressive dis-
cussions on efficiency that treated an emerging society of labourers and
consumers in terms of unity and sameness as necessary conditions for so-
cial progress and how they planned to secure it in a systematical way. In
the last part, I will try to show how the specific organisational principles
of the social realm along with its antipolitical characteristic paved the way
to a new form of perfected conformism and, consequently, how the basic
conditions of human existence were altered in an unprecedented manner.
The present attempt to analyse how conformism ceased to be something
imposed solely from the outside, but rather unfolds as something that is
reproduced in a mutual cooperation as a socially constitutive and func-
tional behaviour, perhaps offers a possibility for a different perspective on
the issue and helps to understand more thoroughly the most immediate
components of the so-called American way or The American dream be-
yond their mythical character and meaning.
128
