5/21/2018 American Exceptionalism Upside Down

1/6

American ExceptionalismTurned Upside Down Daniel RossidesE xceptionalist ideology (America's basis inindividual freedom makes it different and betterthan ethnically based societies) is so powerfulthat few Americans are aware that their societyleads the developed world in virtually all socialpathologies and inefficiencies in many cases by a wide m arginand in many cases lagging behinddeveloping nations. Because of itsunbalanced power structure, theUnited States leads in income andwealth inequality, inequalities thatexist both before and after taxesand after taking demography andgovernment transfers into account.America has the developed world'shighest rates ofelderly,adult, child,and deep poverty, the poorestrecord in worker rights, and has alonger work week. Twenty percentof working age males are out of the labor force and yetcorporate profits are the highest on record. H ow is thatpossible you ask the answer is the w eakness of Americandemocracy? America leads in work er accidents and deathsand lags behind other developed nations in protectingagainst noise dam age. In a recen t study it was last in socialmobihty it is not the land of opportunity but like manyothe rs, simply a land of opportu nity (and far from being aleader). Official records indicate that th e Un ited States hasa moderately competitive productivity rate but becausethe productivity rate is derived from the GDP, whichcounts America's outsized pathologies and inefficienciesas economic growth, a real picture of productivity wouldput the U nited States last. And for the first time in itshistory, and unlike other developed societies, economic/productivity growth has been disconnected from the largemajority of the population. That means that the standardof living has stagnated for most, and the tattered safety netis faihng the poor in economic downturns and no longerbenefits them in uptu rns. It means that the Un ited States,alone of the developed nations , is funneling all econom icsurplus upward, unshared with workers or the generalpublic. It also means th at the reason given for the m assiveupward transfer (productivity and economic growth wouldflourish if producers are favored) is false.America's family homicide, wife beating, and childabuse rates are far higher than the rest of the developedworld. In any given year, 25,000 Americans are killed in

Am erica s familyhom icide, wifebeating,and childabuse rates arefar higher thanthe rest of thedeveloped world.

family arguments. One million children (in one estimate)run away from hom e every year. T h e streets, parks, andshelters of America's cities are filled with hom eless peop le,many of them young adult males and families, manyemployed. Child m altreatment deaths in the Un ited Statesare the highest in the developedworld. T he female hom icide rateis five times hig her than all thedeveloped countries combined.America leads the world in teenpregnancies, divorce, and in suicides(including teen suicides and hasseen a spurt in m iddle age suicide).A significant am oun t of husbandabuse occurs, and th ere is siblingabuse and even parent abuse byteenage children.' Recent decadeshave seen an explosive grow th ofsingle-parent households, m ostof them headed by females andliving in poverty (a chronic fifteen to twenty percent ofAmerica's ch ildren live in poverty). America's prenatal

births and infant mortality data are the highest in thedeveloped world and its rank has slipped badly since1960. It ranked twenty-e ighth as the best place to be anew mother. Its contracep tion skills lag behind E urope 's,and (consequentially?) its abortion rates are much higher.Personal bankruptcy rates are much higher than E urope's.The Work, Family, and Equity Index (2007) yields moreinsights into the plight of the Am erican family. U nlikelarge numbers of developed and developing nations, theUn ited States (as distinct from some of the states) has noman dated paid ma ternity/pa ternity leave, no required :paid annual vacation, no req uired day off per week, nomaximum length of the work week, no limit on mandatoryovertime, no premium for evening or night work, andno paid leave for sickness (adult or child) or for majorfamily events. America's mo thers have no righ t to b reastfeed. It lags behind m any coun tries in early child careand edu cation, and its school year is shorter than fifty-four countries. Labor protection laws on the books arenot enforced. At least two milhon elder Americans aremaltreated by their families and care givers or cheatedby relatives, lawyers, or con artists everyyear There hasbeen a twelvefold increase in households w ith un marriedparents since 1970. The increase is largely among workingand lower middle class families. Out-of-wedlock birthshave increased significantly even among w hite high school

Sociai Policy | Winter | 2 1 3 | 23

5/21/2018 American Exceptionalism Upside Down

2/6

graduates to become a majority of llbirths. N ot only arechildren in these households likely to do poorly in school,but such households are now part of an emerging tw o-tiered family system.' Eederal investigators repo rt that in2003 all fifty states failed to meet federal safety standardsto protect children and see to it thatabused and neglected children find safeand permanenthomes,most failing by awide margin.'T he United States also leads thedeveloped world in crime, the cost ofwhich is enormous (thirteen p ercentof GDP probably one third moreon average than other developedsocieties). An international corruptionperception index saw the U nitedStates slip from a poor sixteenth placeto a terrible twenty-fourth place.'' Itis the only developed nation to putjuveniles in prison for life with outparole (most ban the practice). It is the only developedcountry to deny the vote to felons. Incarceration is now sohigh and such a normal part of American life that its impacton the family and communities deserves a special note. TheUnited States had a low incarceration rate until the 1970s.Coinciden t with the fiowering of market fundamentalism,the ugly economic conditions of the seventies for all, theugly ones for the lower classes ever since, and sp urred onby Right-liberal ideology (focused on abstract morality andempty universalisms that divert attention from social classas causal reality), the rate of incarceration rose fourfoldand the policy of rehabilitation through indeterminatesentencing was abandoned. In consequence, large num bersof poor whites and a disproportionate number of blackswere removed from non performing liberal institutions(labor and other markets) it's almost as if imprisonmenthad bee n planned to hide America's failure to supply workfor all. The large number imprisoned (an average of twomilhon with 600,000 being released annually, most toreturn ) has a devastating effect on spouses, children, andcommunities, including the informal networks that linkpeople to opportunities and which provide impo rtantforms of social control. There are also substantial monetarypenalties (in relation to expected income) attached to otherpunishments, further reducing opportunities for escapingthe penal system. 'Nee dless to say, the experience of whatis essentially a poHcy of unjustifiable retribution harmsprisoners, m akes it very difficult for them to find workwhen released (even if qualified), unde rmine s w hat socialsuppo rts they have, and deprives them of the vote (all in all,leaves them powerless to behave as we want them to andpowerless to resist the world they are forced to live in). 'Is the logic to all this under market fundamentalism theneed to establish a hell worse than America's spreadingscourge of poverty wages?

Am ericans at all ages and all incom e levels have theworse hea lth in the developed world.' T he reformedAm erican health care system will still be the worst in thedeveloped world. More than half of Americans with serious

Am erica no longer hasth e tallesti pe op le (atall incom e levels) in thede ve lop ed v^orld and it isthe most overwe ight (itsrising diab etes rate is th eworld s highest for m enand second highestfor wo m en).

illnesses skip their pills and doctor visits because of cost.American health care now costs far more for at best thesame results (eighteen p ercent of GD P probably oneiJiird more on average than other developed societies. Thebest guess is that the reforms of2010,leaving it a profitprod ucing sector, will lower costsbut only somewhat. The UnitedStates ranks forty-second in lifeexpectancy (the gap betweenthe lower and upp er classes hasalso increased over the past fourdecades). America no longer hasthe tallest people (at all incomelevels) in the developed world andit is the m ost overw eight (its risingdiabetes rate is the world's highestfor men and second highest forwomen). It leads the entire worldin mental illness and mentalretardation. Infection rates, deathsand suffering from medical errors, medical fraud, andunnecessary operations are much higher than in E urope.In a compa rison of health care for the chronically sick witheight other developed nations, the United States cameout last. In a comparison w ith seven developed countrieswith universal health care, the United States had morechronically ill people who did without recomm endedcare than the others. America's patients were also lesslikely to receive coordinated care. Americans are morelikely to experience medical errors and a reasonableestimate says that 200,000 Americans die each yearbecause of them.' T he U nited States has the developedworld's highest car accident and death rates and has far

more fires than Europ e and Japan. O ne hund red countrieshave lower limits of alcohol for d riving. It lags badly inenvironmental protection ranking twenty-eighth in oneworld study. It is the least energy efficient in the developedworld and the world's highest subsidizer of energy. Itslitigation rates are the w orld's highest w hile its vauntedcommitment to the rule ofl wis a myth the m ajority ofthe p opulation is imable to exercise its legal rights, m anyare wrongfully convicted, laws are made by fifty-one semi-democratic legislatures, and presidents openly enforce thelaw as they see fit. It has the developed world's highe stschool dro pou t and illiteracy rates and has lost its edge inhighe r educ ation (once first in college gradu ates, it is nowtwelfth). The United States leads all developed and manyundeveloped nations in denying human evolution. It hasmore food insecurity (hunger) and homelessness and lessaffordable housing than other developed countries. It lagsbehind Europe and Japan in Internet access. It lags behindboth and China in high-speed rail transit. It received alow grade of C for its overall public and private retirementsystem on the M elbourne M ercer G lobal Pension Index.Om inously, the Miringoff Index of sixteen measures ofAmerican life revealed an absolute decline in America'swell-being from 1970 to 2005 (undoubtedly continuingthereafter).

The American political system is plutocratic and the24 I Sociai Poiicy | Winter | 2 13

5/21/2018 American Exceptionalism Upside Down

3/6

least democraticin thedeveloped w orld.TheUnitedStates' rising levelsofdistrustofgovernmentandotherinstitutionsishigher th an othe r developed nations.Itsdefacto property-b ased polity reflects, reinforces,andincreasesitsalready deep econ omic ineq ualities. Overallpublic spending is redistributivebutin awideningnot anequalizingmanner. Twenty-oneoftwenty-five developed countries imposehigher taxesontheir corporationsthantheUnited States withoutlosing their competitive edge.America's constitution wasexplicitly structured tothwartthe willofthe people and tomake sure that democracy doesn'temerge therearecorporations(and other private groups) withfree speech,thegerrymander,proofofcitizenshipandphotoIDsfor voters, voter suppressionin adozen forms, righttowork laws, irrational budge t capsanddebt ceilings, lesstimetoregisterandvote,theoutsourcingofeducationand other pu blic services, muzzling labor groups frombargaining, manufactured anti-tax fervor, supermajorities,balanced bud get nonsense,andlax, corrupt electoralboards. America's dense networkofRight-liberal policyorganizations, combined with choice-poor elections,plutocratic political parties,and ananything-goeselectoral system (well-shortof international standards' ')understandably generatethedeveloped world's lowest rateof political pa rticipation (Switzerlandnotwithstanding).It uniquelyandirrationally hasnonational capital budgetor annual social welfare repo rt.TheUnited States hasthefewest wom eninelected office,theleast foreign aid,andthe least state supportfor theartsin thedeveloped world.

America's p athologiesandinefficiencies areclearlystructuralinnature, that is, they stem from Americaninstitutionsandtheir supporting normsandvalues. Ins teadof seeingthefinancialandeconomic debacleof2007-09as normal, that is,as thepredictable outcomeofAmericannorms, values,andinstitutions, A merica's elites (bothinpublic lifeand intellectual life) attributedit tomistakesby governmentandpersonal shortcomings. Americaisfar from understanding thatitsdysfunctional institutionscannotbefixedaslong as public discourseisframed in thearchaic universalistic ideasofeighteenth-century Anglo-liberalism.Itsrelative standing w illnotimproveandcouldget worseifit continue stowallowin thestultifying, self-congratulatory worldofexceptionalism. Americans mustcometorealize th at exceptionalist ideology (weare allfree, equal,andrationalbydefinition Adamic citizensunencumbered by themythsandsuperstitionsofthe past)gets more hollowby the day.Thereis noevidence (as American Right liberals claim)that state programstominimize market, age,andhealthrisks adversely affect work incentivesorp roductivity.Researchhasestablished that societies with cooperativeinstitutions haveamore equal distributionofincome.

The Am ericanmindset shows littleability to profit fromexperience ortincorporate scientificknowledge intoits policy makingroutinely

whichinturn, curbs pathologiesofallkinds.TheUnitedStatesispoorincooperative institutions and inlesserdegreeso arecountries with similar stylesofAnglo-capitalism: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand,andtheUK). Northern European countries rank highincooperative institutions (beyondthe continent, NorwayandSwedenare especially characterizedbycooperative institutions).*^' similarclassification revolves aroimd typeof polity,forexample, majoritarian(the United Statesandothers)vs.consensual,andhere againtheconsensual comesoutaheadinregardto democratic practice, equality,favorable treatmentofwom en, curbson corruption,andprotectingtheenvironment. ' 'The BertelmannFoundation's 2011 report.SocialJusticein theOFCD owdothe

ember States Compare? rankstheUnited Statesfarbelowthe developed countriesofNorthern Europe andCanada)placingitamongthemost backwardof thirty-one memberstatesonsix indexes. As opposedtosimply compensatingfor injusticeorprojecting formal equalityofopportunity,saystherepo rt, social justice means guarantee ingeach individual genuinely equal opportunitiesfor self-realization through targeted investmentin thedevelopmentof individual capabilities,and is aprerequisitefor theconsensus neededfora sustainable social marke t econom y.Harnessingtheeconomyandprofessions tosocialfunctionsandroutine comparisons of American institutionswith best practices elsewhere woulddomuchtodemolishAmerican parochialismandcomplacency. Comparisonisthe essenceofthough t. Insularityinpohticsandpublicpolicy hasitscosts alongsideall theother n egative, wastefulAmerican behavior. A pluralistic power structureis theessenceofaproblem solving democracy notconstitutions,markets, leadership, better education, nonpartisanship,better thinking, citizens' initiatives, restoringthe vitalcenter, livingup toideals, spending/rev enue caps, termlimits, findingtheinner citizen , etc.).America's major attempttodeal withitsproblems,its experimen t with market freedom overthepast fourdecades,hasbeenagiganticandunacknow ledged failure.The American mindset shows little abilitytoprofit fromexperienceor toincorporate scientific knowledge intoitspolicy making routinely. As withtheclassic C orpo ratecapitalism ofthe pre-New Dealera.Corporate WorldMarket capitahsm American-stylehas led toeconomicconcentration, wealth concentration, dam aginganddestabilizing incom e inequality,andhighandunnecessarylevelsof insecurity, deprivation,andpoverty. Mo stimportantly, American-style capitalism constitutesaserious un dercuttingofdemocracy.Thefirst new natio nhas been unabletoachieveastable, productive economyortodistribute economic gains fairly.Ithas never figuredout howtoprovide jobsforall,aserious deficiencyin aculture th at places a high valueonwork.Theprivate-

Social olicy | Winter |2 13 | 25

5/21/2018 American Exceptionalism Upside Down

4/6

profit companies that are used to assemble and distributecapital are inefficient, dishonest, and be yond reform. Ahistory of half measures and neglected reforms was coveredup from the 1970s on by the make-believe world of marketfrindamen tahsm: use the state to help only business andreduce help for the general populace.T he results were predictably dire.America still exploits labor andnature to realize its obsolete andselfdefeating way to economic growth.It may have more knowledge abouthow an economy works (for example,consumer spending and confidencelevels, the multiplier effect, inventorydata) and m ore devices to stabilize theeconomy (for example, interest ratechanges, deposit and unemploymentinsurance, public works) bu t these arenot only inadequate, but there is seriousresistance to using them on the part ofobsolete bu t still powerful sectors of both the Republicanand Democratic Parties. T he Am erican economyistightlytied to and dependent on the state, but powerful groups(the Republican Party, much of the Democratic Party, themainstream economics profession) refuse to acknowledgeit, aware no doubt that to do so would underm ine the basicpremise of their w orld view.

Critical studies by Lefr liberals have em erged,of course, and reforms proposed from across theestabhsh men t. All routinely lame nt America's failure to liveup to its institutions and ideals with few realizing tha t it isthose very institutions, norms, and values that should beon trial and that America's various problems (pathologies,inefficiencies, booms and busts, recessions, foreignpolicy disasters) are norm al, tha t is, they stem directlyand predictably from America's alleged transhistoricalnorm s, values, and institution s. Lefr and Right-liberalanalysts have recommended ways to mend America but alluniformly fail to raise the issue of power and the possibilitythat the United States has evolved into a two-tiered, two-party oligarchy whose growing self-sustainability will soonmake it invulnerable to structural chang e. Predictably,most reformers recommend government programs tohelp those left ou t to join American society (their favoritenostrum is education) without ever asking why so manyAmericans are routinely lefr out. Ominously, the Americanpolitical economy is now structured so that the upper fifthremains prosperous while large numbers struggle andsignificant numbers of working-age Americans, includingcollege graduates, are being left behind. A recent studyreported record high levels of profit and record lowlevels of wo rker incom e as a perc ent of GDP. Americaand the American economy remain non-problem atic all that is needed is rededication to America's ideals,some governm ent help to the unfortunate, and a fewnonstructural reforms to make America work. No one saysthere is no naturally functioning world for people to join no one to point out that m any of America's problemsstem from deeply institutionalized mistakes (all ferociously

A recent studyreported recordhigh levels of profitand record lowlevels of workerincorne asa percent ofGDP /

defended by beneficiaries) not from temporary deviationsfrom basic principles.W ithou t structural reform, the two parties willcontinue to neglect the wishes of the general public. Thecleavage between the few who acquire citizen skills andparticipate in civic life and themany rendered apathetic andpolitically innocent will continue.The cleavage between those whoutilize the law and the majoritywho can't will also continue.Education will continue toreproduce the class system andsafeguard A merica's myths .Journalism will continue to relyon the makers ofn wsfor newswhile giving full cred ence to bothpolitical parties and textbookprinciples. A highly developedentertainmen t world and itsmanufactured celebrities will continue to divert the m asses

from their central concerns using the public's own money(is it fair to say that th e bo om ing celebrity world upholdsindividualist ideology while undermining communalsentiments and ideas?). Popular culture will continue topicture a social order threaten ed by inexplicable evil andsaved by heroic individuals wielding technology. Sports willcontinue to amplify the myth that social inequality reflectsnature's hierarchy of abihty. Gated communities willcontinue to mu ltiply as the cleavage between stable familiesand unstable, challenged h ouseholds fully crystalhzes in toa two-tiered household system. Major corporations willcontinue to adapt their offerings to the new hourglassincome structure which reflects the increased inequaHtysince 1970 and that their research indicates is here to stay.* 'Severe economic inequality is now structural having beenaided in its creation and solidified by new pow er relationsin the polity, law, education, housing, and civic life allund er the cover of market freedom .State-supported American-style capitalism has spreadin all directions to take over ma ny public functions, tooperate round the clock and on Sundays, to turn m anyhoUdays into sho pping days, to pressu re the familyto consume and work (robbing it of parenting time),transform education, housing, and other former publicservices into profit c enters as mu ch as possible (at the

expense of decent pub lic service wages and pensions),to encroach on or jeopardize public lands, waterways,and parks in the false name of competitive na tionalism,to intimidate journalists and public broadcasting in thedirection of Right liberalism using both government and avariety of think tanks and foundations, and to commodifyand colonize person al life (sale of semen, hum an eggs,and data on consumption habits and private life, inducedcelebrity w orship, cred it checks, etc.).T he beliefs and values of Am erican-style capitalismblanket the social world, in effect, mu ting the voicesof reform, worker democracy, and alterna te life styles.Ironically, while all this is done in the name of efficiency.

26 I Sooiai Policy ] Winter | 2 13

5/21/2018 American Exceptionalism Upside Down

5/6

rent-anchored America has become ever more inefficientif the costs of unem ploymen t, underemplojrment,environmental damage, polludon-caused disease, crime(especially white collar and political corrup tion crime),divorce, unnecessary lidgation, inefficient transportation,excessive armaments, wasteful advertising, socially inducedphysical and mental illness,overpriced and incompetent healthcare, and so on are counted againstthe unmanaged, producer-favoredpolidcal economy.America s decline in overallrelative econom ic status (sayagainst China, India, and Brazil)was inevitable bu t its reladvedecline against the developed worldafter 1970 in social pathologiesand inefficiencies was not. Onlya deliberative democracy cansolve problems and provide socialdirection, but polidcs are bad weare told, and government cannotprevent risks or solve problems, only markets can. Undermarket fundamentalism, the United States is the onlydeveloped society without a comm itment to some kind ofsocioeconomic planning (dramadcally illustrated by thedeliberate and damaging absence of disdncdon betweeninvestment and overhead spending in the federal budget).Even the strikingly better records of the more fullydeveloped countries of No rthe rn Europe cannot shakeAmerica s com placency. Because America is un interestedin and unskilled in comparative thinking , America s idea ofitselfishopelessly at odds with reahty. Its problem solvingoccurs within the narrow spectrum of Anglo-Liberahsm.Neither Right nor Left-liberal problem solving can workbecause neither reaches crucial variables. Only a pluralisticpower system can generate social system thinking. Instead,Right-liberal observers ritually invoke the Americanspirit, its flair for innova don, its entreprene urial energy,and other Cham ber of Comm erce nostrums. Left-liberalsask for a variety of relief measures to help an a ssortmen t

W ithout a changein power relations,Am erica s m archtoward democracywill remain stalledindeed, American-stylecapitalism exh ibits aclear pattern aw ay fromdem ocracy over the pastfour decades .

of distressed groups, studiously ignoring the question,why do we have so many in distress? Th e benevolenceof billionaires and the charitable acts of individuals areroutinely trumpeted. No one asks for the reform ofproblem-causing power structure.Unless the issue ofsoci lpower is addressed, unequaleconomic power will continue toresult in unequal political powerresulting in public policies that :maintain or worsen economicinequality, inefficiencies, andpathologies. Witho ut a change inpower reladons, America s marchtoward democracy will remainstalled indeed, Am erican-stylecapitalism exhibits a clear p atternaway from democracy over thepast four decades. The powerfulcondnu e to divert attendon fromtheir failures by arguing thatwe have never really tried freeenterprise, by referring to morality,educadon, personal responsibility, competition and threatsfrom abroad, and the need for innovadon, free trade, andeconomic growth in the abstract. It is time to bypass themetaphysics and hypocrisy of market fundamentalism andrecognize that economic shortfalls are neither accidentsnor retribution for not following economic principles.It is dme to stop puttin g fingers in leaky dikes. It is timeto acknowledge that the only way to cope with chronicunemployment, stagnant incomes, deficits and debt,extravagant living amidst poverty, and with the developedworld s highest levels of pathologies and inefficiencies is torevamp underperforming institudons and to embrace theidea that a rational, dem ocratic society must be explicitlyconstructed, not willed into being through empty braggingand warmed-over myths.

Daniel W Rossidesis a frequent cofitributor to SocialPol icyan d rofessoro fSociology Fmeritus at Bowdoin College

Be sure to visit our webs ite at

Sociai Poiicy Winter 2 13 127

5/21/2018 American Exceptionalism Upside Down

6/6

C o p y r i g h t o f S o c i a l P o l i c y i s t h e p r o p e r t y o f L a b o r N e i g h b o r R e s e a r c h & T r a i n i n g C e n t e r a n d

i t s c o n t e n t m a y n o t b e c o p i e d o r e m a i l e d t o m u l t i p l e s i t e s o r p o s t e d t o a l i s t s e r v w i t h o u t t h e

c o p y r i g h t h o l d e r ' s e x p r e s s w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . H o w e v e r , u s e r s m a y p r i n t , d o w n l o a d , o r e m a i l

a r t i c l e s f o r i n d i v i d u a l u s e .