The Occupy Movement means different things to different people. It’s far too early to know exactly what these protests will or won’t turn into; they are simply too new to predict.
One thing is clear, however: this movement represents a critique of modern life in the United States of America, of our systems of economic and political power.
And that is a very useful starting place.
A Bigger Frame for Social Change
America’s “professional” social change community is not driving the Occupy Movement. It is out of their hands; as though this new group of (mostly) younger activists stepped in, stripped the ball away and simply said: “Enough. Let me try it my way.”
Their critique of American society frames our social and environmental problems with a different lens than many of the social change institutions formally dedicated to addressing these same issues. The Occupy Movement frames these problems – and there are a wide range of them – by tying them to the same root cause: the increasing concentration of wealth in this country and the corruptive influence it has over our institutions of economic and political power.
The Occupy Movements sees the futility of trying to address our myriad of social and environmental problems as anything other than symptoms of this root cause, this cancer that is already well metastasized throughout our culture.
Simply put, the Occupy Movement is about shifting the object of our attention upstream.
Reframing the Tea Party
Many have drawn superficial comparisons to the Tea Party, calling the Occupy Movement the “Tea Party of the Left.” I disagree strongly with this kind of framing, because it obscures more than it reveals about what is actually going on here, both in what this movement represents and how it is actually organizing itself.
With that said, however, I do believe there are two similarities worth noting.
The first similarity between the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement is that both provide an easy-to-understand frame to explain why so many people in this country are struggling so badly right now. For the Tea Party, that frame is big government as the problem. For the Occupy Movement, that frame is the concentration of wealth and its corruptive influence on business and government.
There are also real cultural differences between Tea Partiers and Occupiers that make it extremely unlikely they will ever join forces, and on the surface, their frames couldn’t appear to be more different. Dig a little deeper though, and it’s entirely possible that the Occupy frame could actually subsume the Tea Party frame. All that needs to happen is for Tea Partiers to make the connection between the concentration of wealth and its take over of America’s democratic institutions. Again, these two forces are unlikely to ever join forces, but if this link is made, the already strong anti-elitist and anti-corporate element of the Tea Party’s grassroots will suddenly have a new target for their anti-government rhetoric.
The Heart of the Matter
The second way in which the Occupy Movement is similar to the Tea Party is that it is a source of inspiration for others with similar views. Again, it’s still early in the Occupy Movement, but in my view, it already seems to be giving others the courage to stick their necks out. That might mean actually joining in on the demonstrations or supporting them in other ways, or even just having the courage to send stories about the Occupy Movement to your social networks.
Whatever form it takes, I believe this group of brave people holding the center is what makes it feel safer for the rest of us to begin asking hard questions – and that… that, is the real purpose of these protests.
Like new-born hearts, beating and radiating from many locations and in all directions, these people now gathering in city after city are the first brave souls to stand up. That is how this revolution begins. No violence. No retribution. Just a decision to walk off the field of a soul-numbing consumer society, and move to a new one, as proud citizens, ready to once again shape the laws and customs of this great land.
So here is to the ninety-nine percenters – the ones who have already taken their courageous first stands, and the ones now about to stand up. God bless you all.
Re the idea that the Tea Party frame could well be subsumed by the Occupy frame, a friend commented on Facebook: “Good luck with that. I don’t think the Koch Brothers, who finance the Tea Party, would agree.”
My response: “Of course they wouldn’t, which is why one possible positive scenario is that, as the Occupy frame gains power, the Tea Party movement gets even more fractured, with the more populist elements who accept that government has *some* legit role to play in business and society peeling off and leaving the Koch brothers’ astroturf groups behind, revealing them more obviously as the corporate shills they are. Not likely, but possible. As my stepdad Rick Ingrasci always says, ‘If you want to create a new culture, throw a better party.’ Our challenge is to show our friends in the Tea Party that the Occupy movement is a better party.”
Thanks Leif. Great response. There’s some great research coming out now on what the grassroots of the Tea Party *actually* believes – versus what their top-down communications channels *say* they believe. There are some subtle differences.
For those of you who are interested, here is a link to this new research on the Tea Party – part of a book that will be coming out later this year (this is a PDF document):
http://static.sdu.dk/mediafiles//7/B/3/%7B7B30B0ED-7AA0-4065-952B-1FCAB8B161C9%7DWilliamson%20Skocpol%20Coggin%20Tea%20Party.pdf
Assuming you don’t have the time for that (like most of us) here is a summary of its key points:
The Tea Party is a very small percentage of Americans. 55-60% are men, 80-90% are white, and 70-75% are over 45 years old.
Though small in actual number, they appear much larger due to some very skillful promotion from monied supporters and right wing media outlets – particularly Fox News. Fox, in particular, provides a rallying point, helping this relatively small segment of the population to feel they are not alone – and creating the illusion that they are much bigger than they actually are. This illusion is also enhanced by two well-funded national Tea Party advocacy groups.
Tea Party members are often portrayed as semi-independent, but this research shows a much stronger link to Republican affiliation.
With regard to the recent deficit fiasco, spending and taxes, it’s worth noting that Tea Party member objections to government social programs are more nuanced than often reported. It’s not simply a blanket rejection of government programs like Social Security and Medicare. It’s that they don’t want to pay for other people’s use of these programs, if those people don’t work and therefore don’t contribute to these programs. In their view, it’s a question of “deservingness.”
Deservingness centers on a distinction between workers and non-workers, which is critical to Tea Party members, even though it’s not a question of literally having a job. There are substantial numbers of retired, unemployed and student Tea Party members who still perceive themselves culturally as “workers” even though they may not actually currently be working.
Those who aren’t workers are seen as free-loaders, and the two biggest sources of free-loaders, according to most Tea Party members, are young people and undocumented immigrants. It helps explain the prominence of the immigration issue within the Tea Party (second only to deficits and spending).
There are important racial overtones in the dichotomy of “freeloader and hardworking taxpayer.” How explicit Tea Party racism is often depends on location, but Tea Party membership is generally a good indicator of racial resentment. Moreover, there is a great deal of anxiety over the “generational societal change” that is causing the US to become more racially diverse and threatening their status quo. According to this research, many of the “undeserving youth” are also people of color, as are immigrants. Obama is a symbol of this change and one of the reasons he is such a lightning rod for Tea Party members.
Gideon,
Thanks for such a thoughtful piece.
I just loved your opener “this movement represents a critique of modern life in the United States of America, of our systems of economic and political power.” Exactly.
Re: “The Occupy Movement frames these problems – and there are a wide range of them – by tying them to the same root cause: the increasing concentration of wealth in this country and the corruptive influence it has over our institutions of economic and political power.
The Occupy Movements sees the futility of trying to address our myriad of social and environmental problems as anything other than symptoms of this root cause, this cancer that is already well metastasized throughout our culture.”
It’s rare to see someone discuss the root cause of public issues. The Occupy Movement in particular seems to be a spontaneous reaction to a deep root cause. However, may I suggest that “the increasing concentration of wealth in this country and the corruptive
influence it has” is an intermediate cause rather than a root cause. See this article for discussion of this point:
http://www.thwink.org/sustain/articles/016/CorporateDominanceLoop.htm
I love that page, Jack. It’s really well stated and presented. We are thinking about a lot of the same things. Reforming the corporate DNA is a big focus for me, and you will see it begin to play a much bigger role in my writing going forward. Wish there was a way to RSS subscribe to your site.
Nice phrase, “Reforming the corporate DNA.”It seems to require root cause analysis to do it right. That’s the point I was trying to make. We shall see if it catches on. Lots of traffic from that article on twitter and facebook.
Thanks for suggesting RSS. I was completely unaware of that. Must be too much a researcher! I’m now reading about it. I’m also redesigning and rewriting the site, a 4 month project due to its 150 pages and 77 pdf files. I can already see the great advantages of RSS for those interested in this type of work, so thanks!