Page 147 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
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Perversion of the American Dream
Darko Štrajn
And when I got to America, I say it blew my mind.
Eric Burdon and the Animals (1968), New York 1963 – America 1968,
Every one of Us (Album)
Introduction
It seems that neoliberalism1 perverted the American Dream in a man-
ner, which could be compared to what relatively a bit gentler and kin-
der consumerism did to the Enlightenment in view of Adorno’s and
Horkheimer’s critique. However, the result – a turn from the idea of free-
dom to the social reality of domination – is not only a consequence of the
impact of some external forces. Throughout the “Dialectic”, the authors
are signalling that the turn comes from within, what they clearly point
out in the preface from 1944, saying that “the germ of regression” is con-
tained in the enlightenment thinking. “The aporia which faced us in our
work thus proved to be the first matter we had to investigate: the self-de-
struction of enlightenment. We have no doubt – and herein lies our peti-
tio principii – that freedom in society is inseparable from enlightenment
thinking” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 2002: p. xvi). The thinking contained
in any “formula” of the American Dream works through very similar lo-
gic. Finding a way to a new freedom in a society presupposes some re-thin-
king, or in Derrida’s perspective: the deconstruction of the enlightenment
itself. Likewise, the American Dream requests a deconstructive reformu-
1 What is and what is not neoliberalism is not an object of analysis in this paper. I think that
after the combined knowledge and analysis of authors like Naomi Klein, Thomas Piketty,
Paul Krugman, Michael Peters, and many others, the relevance of the notion for econom-
ic system, political order, culture, ideology and domination is clear enough. Therefore, I
would agree that it is very important to take a look at neoliberalism in its broader effects.
“/…/ in order to more fully grasp the effects of neoliberalism, the debate must take into
account culture, understood here as a symbolic system articulated through systems of dis-
positions” (Hilger, 2013: p. 76).
145
Darko Štrajn
And when I got to America, I say it blew my mind.
Eric Burdon and the Animals (1968), New York 1963 – America 1968,
Every one of Us (Album)
Introduction
It seems that neoliberalism1 perverted the American Dream in a man-
ner, which could be compared to what relatively a bit gentler and kin-
der consumerism did to the Enlightenment in view of Adorno’s and
Horkheimer’s critique. However, the result – a turn from the idea of free-
dom to the social reality of domination – is not only a consequence of the
impact of some external forces. Throughout the “Dialectic”, the authors
are signalling that the turn comes from within, what they clearly point
out in the preface from 1944, saying that “the germ of regression” is con-
tained in the enlightenment thinking. “The aporia which faced us in our
work thus proved to be the first matter we had to investigate: the self-de-
struction of enlightenment. We have no doubt – and herein lies our peti-
tio principii – that freedom in society is inseparable from enlightenment
thinking” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 2002: p. xvi). The thinking contained
in any “formula” of the American Dream works through very similar lo-
gic. Finding a way to a new freedom in a society presupposes some re-thin-
king, or in Derrida’s perspective: the deconstruction of the enlightenment
itself. Likewise, the American Dream requests a deconstructive reformu-
1 What is and what is not neoliberalism is not an object of analysis in this paper. I think that
after the combined knowledge and analysis of authors like Naomi Klein, Thomas Piketty,
Paul Krugman, Michael Peters, and many others, the relevance of the notion for econom-
ic system, political order, culture, ideology and domination is clear enough. Therefore, I
would agree that it is very important to take a look at neoliberalism in its broader effects.
“/…/ in order to more fully grasp the effects of neoliberalism, the debate must take into
account culture, understood here as a symbolic system articulated through systems of dis-
positions” (Hilger, 2013: p. 76).
145
