HCJ Seminar Paper (14/03/2013)

Bureaucracy and "The New Industrial State"

The 1950's/60's was a time of prosperity within the USA and the developed world. The outlook was highly KEYNESIAN, as the failure of Communism lead to Capitalism being seen as a more efficient and effective way to progress. Branding and Advertising, described as the ‘drug of the nation’, was used to appeal to a person’s subconscious wants and desires, with the rise in Finance Capital paving the way for a more nihilistic outlook. People became self-indulgent, adopting smoking for example, and much more materialistic. Classic Economists such as ADAM SMITH and DAVID HUME were now obsolete as the increase in capital became the height of social worth and the purpose of existence. Bigger organisations were being set up to accommodate the necessary ‘means of production’ with America now being viewed as a “Free Market Capitalist Economy”.

HCJ Seminar Paper (20/03/12)

Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

Weber’s political philosophy appeared towards the end of the Enlightenment, a time of Social Radicalism that called for a revolt between the two main classes; the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. British Empiricism was at a standstill and the rise of the German state secured a more conservative way of thinking.

Following on from Karl Marx’s (1818 – 1883) political philosophy, Weber’s beliefs were wholly Kantian. He believed “The essence of politics is struggle" (Kilcullen, 1996, [Online]). He describes how power is obtained through political struggle; therefore there is value in conflict. Kant describes an “internal struggle against wicked desires” (Robinson and Groves, 1998), whereby we perform a duty in order to become virtuous.