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| Anti-intellectualism in Europe and America as a Reflection of Changes in Social Stratum Structure |
| Kan Daoyuan1, Liang Jingyu2 |
1.School of Marxism, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
2.School of Humanities, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China |
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Abstract The recent rise in anti-intellectualism in European and American countries, as a prominent social ideological trend, is highly related to changes in social stratum structure in the West. Over the past 40 years, the evolution of economic and industrial structures has been caused by the Western pursuit of Neoliberalism. Global economics has prompted the transfer of labor-intensive enterprises in European and American countries to other parts of the world, resulting in varying degrees of an industrial “hollowing-out” effect. Meanwhile, the problem of structural unemployment has become increasingly prominent. Moreover, since the 2008 financial crisis, the equities of social policies in European and American countries have declined, the policy protections for the middle and lower classes have been continuously weakened, and thus the inequality has been intensified. The imbalances of social policies have led to the differentiation, solidification and polarization of social strata, transforming some countries from a relatively stable “olive-shaped” stratum structure to a split “double-diamond diagram”, which provides a necessary stratum foundation and social climate for the breeding of anti-intellectualism.The evolution of social stratum structure and the tension of social relations have shaped sensitive and fragile social psychology and the obvious tendency of extreme thinking. The anti-elitism, anti-system and anti-science sentiments of the middle and lower classes are growing, and the social psychology of xenophobia looms growingly large. This psychological feature and anti-intellectualism have formed the “internal consistency” and “high isomorphism” in psychological structure, in other words, they are highly skeptical of science and authority, tend to attribute their problems to the external factors, and lack the patience and courage to objectively and rationally analyze and solve the problems, which “transports” a steady stream of negative psychological energy for the germination of anti-intellectualism.Besides, in recent years, education in European and American countries has not effectively bridged the widening stratification gap. Through the supply and distribution of educational resources, it has realized the intelligence training and intellectual shaping of different classes. Insufficient educational resources and poor educational quality obtained by the middle and lower classes have solidified the pattern of stratum differentiation to a certain extent, resulting in the downward trend of intellectual level, making people become “natural” supporters of anti-intellectualism and more likely to be incited and misled by elites and politicians.Anti-intellectualism is not “spontaneous” in social culture, nor is it an “accidental” phenomenon in European and American society. The ruling mode and institutional system of bourgeoisie “creates” anti-intellectualism, the “spiritual companion” of a western governance and institutional crisis. Under the current bourgeois system and ruling mode in European and American countries, there will always be room for its continued spread and expansion. With the intensification of social stratum differentiation and the evolution and intensification of social contradictions in the West, this spiritual alienation may be manifested in a more violent form of social movement.
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Received: 27 November 2021
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2022, Vol. 52 
