USA - 1950s and 1960s - The New Industrial Estate

The New Industrial State was the work of  John Kenneth Galbraith in 1967, it focused on exploring the economics of production and the effect that large corporations had over the state. The Industrial System, according to Galbraith, is controlled by a technostructure (which maintains the organisation and make sure expansion if happening) not shareholders.

The Industrial State has control of its capital supply. But the problems with the New Industrial State are 1. Inflation 2. Increased role of the state 3. destruction of profitability 4. Keynesian military.

 Within the USA the New Industrial State meant that everything was always available all of the time, this could led inevitably to boredom and cultural exhaustion. With everything taken care of our biggests worries are things of little importance as awe take for granted things like water, education and food.
The failure of communism led to capitalism which was believed to be the better and more effective way in order to progress.


Existentialism VS Nihilism

Weber - Bureaucracy - main source of power - legal, routine. The rise of bureaucratic - "finance capital"
Karl Marx - economics

The 1950s was the era of American prosperity - Keynes is the great God. Neo-classical economics is a museum piece, or rhetorical only or a laughing stock - particularly on monetary policy. Keynes discovered Marx was wrong because you can add value through marketing - Marx did not predict that bureaucracy would take over capitalism.

But a critique of the 'managed' society, as a new form of 'soft' totalitarianism. The keynsian consensus is attacked from the left and the right. The far left/far right (including Heidegger, Sartre, Maoism, Franz Fanon etc.) American 'civilisation' is 'bureaucratic technological militaristic nihilism'. It is bound for disintergration, probably violent.

Left --> Maoism, third worldism, ecology, feminism, transvaluation - anti-globalisation as anti-capitalism, green movement.
Right --> racial disintergraation, cultural decadence, economic parasitism, loss of national identity. Globalisation of disintergration, relative and absolute economic decline of the west.

Keynes - print more money - by boosting the economy with more money = government give businesses subsidies to employ. Or create government schemes - pointless jobs like digging a hole and filling it in again.
Keynes 'managed society' was greatly criticized - soft totalitarianism.
Weber - "rise of bureaucracy" - Was interested in power and why people follow rules by certain people.

Jobs are not there during the depression - people are forced to work for less because of surplus in labour.
Everyone needs a job but no one will be able to buy what they are making/selling. People have to settle for unemployment or low wages.

1950's and 1960's was a time of prosperity in America.

Problems with NIS

1. increased role of state
2. inflation
3. keynesian military
4. destruction of profitability