Like me you’ve probably struggled to bring together into some logical framework the bewildering chaos that is the economic and social scenes in the West.
Last week I was fortunate enough to come across an article by Arindam Basu posted at Socred.org entitled The Right to Cash 1. The article outlines the risks of the cashless economy and is an excellent defense of cash, but it was Basu’s conclusion which placed the issue of cash into a broader context that really caught my attention.
He references Russian scholar Andrey Fursov:
From as early as the 1960s, a section of the Western ruling class pressed for a 3D policy of deindustrialization, de-rationalisation and depopulation, to retain, and indeed, extend control over the general public.
It would seem that the de-pop agenda has been an unmitigated success. Many Western nations are now below replacement rates and out of control immigration in Western Europe, America and elsewhere can’t help but dissolve the social norms and values which have in the past been the fulcrum for social and economic achievement in the Western democracies.
Moving through Fursov’s 3Ds a great deal of progress has been made in the sphere of de-industrialisation as well. The push for decarbonisation can be understood in this light and can be seen as essentially state power and international corporate interests converging to increase the cost of energy and thereby suppress demand. This is one facet of a never-ending progression of industrial and free-market reforms which have made it impossible for industry in Western nations to be financially viable. The result has been large scale off-shoring and the loss of capacity for material self-reliance in many Western economies. These pressures which necessarily lead to de-industrialisation are longstanding in Western Europe, especially Germany, the United States and elsewhere.
As for de-rationalisation Fursov explains that it got up to full steam in the United States with the cultural and so-called liberation movements of the 1960s. These movements developed into the extreme forms of de-rationalisation which we see today; the reemergence of racism on the left, gender theory and radical feminism are the most recent examples of this program of social and cultural deterioration.
In his article about cash Basu adds a fourth D to Fursov’s list; dematerialisation. He describes it by following the development of the publication of books. Originally all books were hardcover, then partial dematerialisation came with the popularisation of paperbacks. The final stage of complete dematerialisation we see in the publication and distribution of books in digital form.
This concept of dematerialisation is a way of understanding what has happened across the economy on both the production and consumption sides. According to the latest intergenerational report more than 90% of Australia’s workforce is now employed in the services sector with this trend set to continue in the immediate future. Financial services employs 3.8% of the total workforce against agriculture’s 2.1%. According to projections from Jobs and Skills Australia the fastest growing occupations over the next decade will be professionals, managers and community and personal services workers.2 The very areas in which bullshit jobs proliferate. More service, less substance.
Dematerialisation to the point of digitalisation is also increasingly a factor in how we spend our non-working lives. A 2023 study, Digital Leisure: a transformation of leisure activities concluded, “we can say that modern leisure activities now predominantly take place through digital tools and social media platforms rather than physical activities.” These virtual activities are increasingly replacing traditional sporting and cultural past times and have profound implications on the future viability of community organisations, clubs and other voluntary groups which have in the past provided a sense of communal belonging. It follows that the loss of these voluntary associations weakens a community’s capacity to organise against external interference whatever form it may take.
There is also an extensive literature detailing the concerning effects of dematerialised, digital leisure on children including links to developmental language delays. A systematic review looking at the relationship between speech delay and smart media in children 3 indicated:
that media devices affect the development of speech in children. There was a high likelihood of language development problems in children possessing electronic devices. It was found that long periods of exposure to electronic media for both children and parents were associated with a decrease in the child’s expressive vocabulary and poor language skills, including lexical skills, indicating that parental screen time also affects a child’s language abilities.
These developmental problems are now appearing on mass as diagnosed mental disorders. Alarmingly, 11 per cent of boys and 5 per cent of girls between the ages of five and seven receives support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the vast majority of these for “mental” disorders.
Fursov’s 3Ds and Basu’s fourth, dematerialisation, need to be seen for what they are; an attempt by the ruling elite to retain and extend control over the general population. It is conceivable that this sort of policy would lead to the state of mental and physical fragility now evident in the populations of Western countries. In this artificially induced matrix people are made dependent on a system which they come to identify with as well as rely on for incomes and amusement. This centralised social and economic situation fosters apathy and incompetence and is a means of managing risk for the world’s ruling class.
But this does not have to be the story of individual people. It would be a low resolution view which saw the situation as completely within the control of those motivated by the will to power. The mechanistic ideal which animates the imagination of the technocrat can only inadequately grasp the indeterminate nature of the reality they attempt to manage, and it will ever be frustrated by those who refuse to conform.
1. Basu, A. 2024. The Right to Cash. Available from: https://www.socred.org/s-c-action/social-credit-views/the-right-to-cash. Accessed 24.06.24
2. Australian Government. 2023. Employment Projections. Available from: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/employment-projections. Accessed: 24.06.24
3. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10580299/