Kill it to save it – An Autopsy of Capitalism’s Triumph over Democracy, By Corey Dolgon (2017) Bristol: Policy Press, University of Bristol, 308 pages. ISBN: 978-14473-1712-8

This book is a timely contribution to the growing concern over the past few years about the rising threats to democracy in the advanced economies, following decades of spreading neoliberalism, associated with globalization, accelerated technological change and rising inequality in income and wealth distribution. Their impact has been further aggravated by the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis by the disruption of labour markets, rising unemployment, exclusion, poverty and “disenfranchising” of the middle-class. All of which generated frustration and loss of confidence in the ruling elites, institutions, “established” experts and culture, disrupting political consensus and traditional political parties, threatening to gradually transmute into populism, nationalism and protectionism. To avoid such deleterious outcome, it is essential to understand the institutional, social and economic features of this process. This is the ambition of this book. The author, Professor Corey Dolgon, a sociologist, who, as a “late baby boomer” has been in a privileged position to observe, in his own suburban middle-class community and at various universities, the deterioration of the economic, political and social system, gradually ripping apart democracy by its own contradictions. This insidious transformation, which took place between 1960 and the early 2000s, included increased inequality, weakening public institutions and infrastructures, depriving citizens of good public education, safe food and environment, reasonable health coverage and a certain social mobility. Dolgon was particularly intrigued by the broad acceptance by society, and voters, of policies that led to such adverse outcomes, which was tantamount to voters’ denial of self-interest and collective well-being, leading to the rise of populism and to the election by a wide margin of Donald Trump as President. In his view, this counter-intuitive dramatic change stems from a new ideological paradigm of “corporate hegemony” and “hyper-individualism”. It shaped policy making, guiding and legitimizing convergence of neoconservative and neoliberal policies among white working-, middle- and professional class voters, who, earlier on, wholly endorsed the New Deal and its emergent welfare state. This new paradigm pretends to “save” individuals’ freedom by “killing” the public sector through privatising its services and institutions—hence the book’s main title Kill it to save it. This strategy was supposed to “save” the economy and corporations by deregulating environmental standards and labour rights and reducing corporations’ related costs (e.g. wages, working conditions, job protection, health coverage)—which actually represented the “American dream” of industrial workers and the middle-class. Beyond limiting government’s ability to regulate, tax and spend, this ideology seeks to stimulate the economy by increasing corporate profits and discharging corporations from their social responsibilities, while encouraging individuals to compete freely, regardless of social or public concerns. Voters’ acceptance of such a destructive process is achieved by a massive use of corporate social media that disseminates round-the clock information that is purged from conflicting views, news, analysis or historical context. Its purpose is to limit citizens’ ability to reason, discern or debate any given situation, and prevent their capacity to react to or challenge any major policy or its outcomes (e.g. mass shootings, poor quality and rarity of mental health care, increasing poverty, ill-health and obesity associated with junk food, industrialised farming and deteriorating environment). The book consists four parts that focus successively on the origins of the ideology and the related policies and institutions (Part 1), their adverse impact on the education system in the wake of privatization (Part 2), on the health system and ill health due to junk food and environment (Part 3), and on the economy and government (Part 4). The Reagan-Bush years promoted a cultural transformation that promoted corporate hegemony, consumerism and economic growth centred on hyper-individualism. This enabled politicians to …