SOCIOPATHIC SOCIETY OTHER BOOKS BY CHARLES DERBER Marx’s Ghost (2011) “By using a time capsule technique to bring back Karl Marx to the 21st century, Charles Derber engages him in an illuminating taboo-shredding conversation about economies, workers, corporations, and governments. Derber opens minds, challenges facile assumptions, and liberates conventional inhibitions.” —RALPH NADER Greed to Green (2010) “There’s no way to solve climate change without also shifting, in profound ways, our idea of what constitutes success and growth and progress. This is the right book at the right—and crucial—moment.” —BILL MCKIBBEN, author of The End of Nature and creator of the student-based “Step It Up” campaign to cut carbon emissions and of 350.org, today’s leading climate change movement The Wilding of America, 4th ed. (2006) “The Wilding of America holds the glass up to our time, and one winces at the likeness.” —JACK BEATTY, Atlantic Monthly and On Point political analyst at NPR Hidden Power (2005) “Hidden Power is the must-read book of the year. Buy three copies, at least, because you’ll want to share a few with friends, and will never want to part with your own well-marked-up copy.” —THOM HARTMANN, best-selling author and host of Air America Hidden Power was selected as one of the top three current events books by the Independent Book Publishers Association. Regime Change Begins at Home (2004) “Derber provides a penetrating and compelling analysis of why this particular “Derber provides a penetrating and compelling analysis of why this particular regime’s days are numbered.” —JULIET SCHOR, author of The Overworked American and Born to Buy People before Profit (2003) “Professor Derber’s impressive analysis is an important contribution to the ongoing worldwide debate about globalization.” —SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY The Pursuit of Attention (2000) “Competition and individualism in America are fresh topics in his hands, and he works out a theory of great interest.” —RICHARD SENNETT, author of Hidden Injuries of Class and The Corrosion of Character Corporation Nation (2000) “A work of generous imagination … and a sober plan of action for Americans committed to a truly just and equitable social order.” —JONATHAN KOZOL, author of Amazing Grace and Savage Inequalities Power in the Highest Degree (1990) coauthored with William Schwartz and Yale R. Magrass “An excellent guide to understanding the system of Mandarin capitalism … and its wideranging human consequences.” —NOAM CHOMSKY, author of Perilous Power (2006) SOCIOPATHIC SOCIETY A People’s Sociology of the United States CHARLES DERBER First published 2013 by Paradigm Publishers Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Derber, Charles. Sociopathic society : a people’s sociology of the United States / Charles Derber. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-61205-437-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-61205-438-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Avarice—United States. 2. Acquisitiveness—United States. 3. Violence—United States. 4. Capitalism— United States. 5. Values—United States. 6. United States—Social conditions. I. Title. BJ1535.A8D47 2013 306.0973—dc23 2013021151 ISBN 13 : 978-1-61205-437-7 (hbk) ISBN 13 : 978-1-61205-438-4 (pbk) Designed and Typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers. Contents Foreword by Noam Chomsky Preface PART I Sociopathic Society CHAPTER 1 An Anatomy of Sociopathic Society PART II Sociopathy and the New American Dream INTRODUCTION Sociopathic Individualism and Everyday Life CHAPTER 2 The Good Man Fills His Own Stomach: All-American Crimes and Misdemeanors CHAPTER 3 Conversational Narcissism and Sociopathic Talk CHAPTER 4 Newtown Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg PART III Sociopathic Capitalism INTRODUCTION Is US Capitalism Antisocial? CHAPTER 5 Capitalist Crises and Capitalism against Society CHAPTER 6 Manufacturing Surplus People CHAPTER 7 The New Robber Barons CHAPTER 8 Sins of the Corporate Regime CHAPTER 9 Romney’s “47 Percent” Blunder Reveals the Hidden Heart of His Agenda (with Yale Magrass) CHAPTER 10 Sociopathic Globalization CHAPTER 11 Kochamamie Democracy PART IV War and Sociopathic Foreign Policy INTRODUCTION Sociopathy and Empire CHAPTER 12 American Empire and Its Moral Big Stick (with Yale Magrass) CHAPTER 13 The “Wright Problem” (with Yale Magrass) CHAPTER 14 What Does It Mean to Call McCain a “War Hero” Candidate? (with Yale Magrass) CHAPTER 15 When Wars Come Home (with Yale Magrass) PART V Climate Change as Sociopathy INTRODUCTION Violence against the Earth CHAPTER 16 How Capitalism Causes Climate Change CHAPTER 17 Hurricane Sandy, Climate Sociopathy, and the Infrastructure Crisis CHAPTER 18 Consumerism as Sociopathy PART VI Fascism: The Ultimate Sociopathic Society? INTRODUCTION Sociopathy and the Far Right CHAPTER 19 Fascism Lite CHAPTER 20 History’s Magic Mirror: America’s Economic Crisis and the Weimar Republic of Pre- Nazi Germany (with Yale Magrass) PART VII Alternatives and Activism INTRODUCTION Beyond the Sociopathic Society A. New American Values and the New America CHAPTER 21 Women’s Values and a New America CHAPTER 22 Capitalism: Big Surprises in Recent Polls CHAPTER 23 The New America Is Not about Identity Politics CHAPTER 24 The Democracy Deficit Is the Real Deficit (with Paul Shannon) B. Alternative Systems CHAPTER 25 The UN, the Barbershop, and Global Democracy CHAPTER 26 Alternatives to Sociopathic Capitalism CHAPTER 27 Will the World Be Ruled by Money or Human Rights? C. Activism and What You Can Do CHAPTER 28 What You Can Do Now CHAPTER 29 From Bowling Alone to Bowling Green Notes Credits Foreword