Week 13 Questions (Crossley)

Language such as "economics" or "the economy of..." has become a major throughline within the creation of culture. du Gay suggests, meaning is created within economic sites and  disseminated through their "processes and practices." (du Gay, p. 114) Economic sites become places where culture is created and contested. The move on the part of the US to go back to the good ol days becomes a means of taking back economic sites lost to diversity and global reach.  it is an attempt to dominate a global market and dictate an individual's place within it.  This discussion fits very well with the show "Mad Men".  Don Draper said at one point, “People tell you who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be.” Draper sold ads to mid-20th century America.  We are now selling assumed truths to a devastated and dysfunctional America so dazed and confused from being told who to be that they can no longer find who they really are. 

du Gay also speaks about the subject vs agent theory wherein economics are the subject and enterprise is the agent creating "a human being as an 'entrepreneuer of the self'". (Du Gay, P 120). In terms of American ideology this ideology seems to fit well with the notion of manifest destiny and rugged individualism.  Further, it can explain some of the far right ideological extremism we are seeing today.  The government does not have an obligation to further the betterment of the people.  the people have an obligation to further their own development thereby blaming the individual self for "failures" such as homelessness and poverty.  Success is there for the taking as long as you take seriously your moral obligation to grab success. this ideology fails to recognize the structrual deterrents of an economic system such as capitalism within america, especially when that system is predicated on inequality structured first and foremost by race.  As our new administration seeks to decentralize government in favor of the good ol days and rugged individualism, pulling oneself up by their boot straps seems to be more difficult than ever as the economic, political and social structures aim to regain privileges and power (perceived to be lost) for white men.