New Class War

Michael Lind 's "pluralism"

Following World War II, argues Michael Lind in his 2020 The New Class War, the United States and much of Europe adopted a system Lind describes as “democratic pluralism.” Pluralists view society “as a community of self-organized and self-governing communities, under the supervision of a democratic government” (32). Each community has a decision-making role in government, the economy, and culture. For pluralists, elections are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a healthy democracy. Power must be distributed among various sub-communities.

In the post-War economy, organized labor provided the main “countervailing force” to check the power of corporations and managers: “the unregulated labor market is partly replaced by a state-brokered system of bargaining over wages and working conditions among employers or employer associations and independent trade unions or other labor organizations” (37).

Politically, national politicians had to negotiate with the “urban ‘bosses’ and rural ‘courthouse gangs’” that served as regional and local power brokers. That “ensured that politicians could not ignore the interests and values of local working-class constituencies in local, state, and national politics” (39). Mass media, publishing, and entertainment were policed by “clergy and zealous citizens and civic groups . . . to ensure that they did not offend the largely traditional values of the working-class majority” (40).