Fraser, Steve, 1945-

The age of acquiescence : the life and death of American resistance to organized wealth and power / Steve Fraser. - First Edition. - viii, 470 pages ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 427-452) and index.

"A groundbreaking investigation of how and why, from the 18th century to the present day, American resistance to our ruling elites has vanished. From the American Revolution through the Civil Rights movement, Americans have long mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege. Hierarchies based on inheritance, wealth, and political preferment were treated as obnoxious and a threat to democracy. Mass movements envisioned a new world supplanting dog-eat-dog capitalism. But over the last half-century that political will and cultural imagination have vanished. Why? THE AGE OF ACQUIESCENCE seeks to solve that mystery. Steve Fraser's account of national transformation brilliantly examines the rise of American capitalism, the visionary attempts to protect the democratic commonwealth, and the great surrender to today's delusional fables of freedom and the politics of fear. Effervescent and razorsharp, THE AGE OF ACQUIESCENCE will be one of the most provocative and talked-about books of the year. "-- "From the American Revolution through the Civil Rights movement, Americans have long mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege. Hierarchies based on inheritance, wealth, and political preferment were treated as obnoxious and a threat to democracy. Mass movements envisioned a new world supplanting dog-eat-dog capitalism. But over the last half-century that political will and cultural imagination have vanished. Why? THE AGE OF ACQUIESCENCE seeks to solve that mystery. Steve Fraser's account of national transformation brilliantly examines the rise of American capitalism, the visionary attempts to protect the democratic commonwealth, and the great surrender to today's delusional fables of freedom and the politics of fear. Effervescent and razorsharp, THE AGE OF ACQUIESCENCE will be one of the most provocative and talked-about books of the year"--

9780316185431 (hardback)


Conflicto social--Historia--Estados Unidos
Movimientos de protesta--Historia--Estados Unidos
Distribución de ingresos--Historia--Estados Unidos
Elite (Ciencias sociales)
Poder (Ciencias sociales)
Psicología social
Aquiescencia (Psicología)
Social conflict--History.--United States
Protest movements--History.--United States
Income distribution--History.--United States
Elite (Social sciences)--History.--United States
Power (Social sciences)--History.--United States
Acquiescence (Psychology)--History.
Social psychology--History.--United States


United States--Politics and government--1945-

002 E 169 / F842a 2015

973.91