[csaa-forum] RE: wanting to be effluent

[Jon Stratton]

  Hi Russell,
     Yes, you're absolutely correct!  The ALP has been the great moving
right show since (at least) Hawke's time.  I remember being deeply shocked
when Hawke's government started introducing 'reforms' here that I was
familiar with from when I was living in England and Thatcher had introduced
them there.  There, Labour at that time had strongly opposed the changes,
here, everybody got behind Hawke and the Libs were able to say that he
wasn't going far enough.  Politics in this country have been moving to the
right for a long time.  Of course, it's not just here, it's across the
'West'.  There is no good reason why the Left today should look like the
Left of a generation ago, and good reasons why it shouldn't, but if the
Greens can take strong moral positions then surely Labor can!  One symptom
of the rightwards shift in politics has been the successful discreditation
of Marxism in any form.
       And, yes, I agree with somebody else's point that a certain amount of
the One Nation vote was made up of disaffected ALP voters who have now moved
to the Libs.   
      In relation to household debt, yes again, this gets worked over in
aspirational terms however, one thing to remember is that the wealthiest
generation was that of the 1950s.  Wealth has been going downwards since
then.  And this includes the babyboomers though it doesn't show so much with
them.  The present generations will not, on the whole, be able to afford
houses etc.  However, expectations are still such that they think they
should have these things so they mortgage themselves to the hilt and beyond.
The inability to live as well as their parents is not as apparant as it
might be because of the increasing divide between rich and poor in this
country.  One fall=out is that people think that the Libs will help their
wealth-creation hopes.  With little critical theory left that can show this
isn't the case the left is fairly hamstrung in this regard. 
cheers,
Jon          
         

  _____  

From: csaa-forum-bounces at darlin.cdu.edu.au on behalf of Russell Smith
Sent: Thu 14/10/2004 3:45 PM
To: CSAA discussion list
Subject: RE: [csaa-forum] RE: wanting to be effluent



Regarding this (perceived) shift to the right in Australian politics: 

1. Although the argument about Howard simply getting back some of the 
former ONP and Democrat voters seems pretty convincing in terms of the 
numbers, it doesn't address the other issue that the ALP in this campaign 
was significantly to the right of its former self (what about their 
appalling cooperation with Howard in the ban on gay marriage?). 

2. Regarding the role of "aspirational consumerism" in this shift, one of 
the most significant factors no-one seems to have mentioned is the 
spiralling levels of domestic debt in Australia, particularly among young 
people. This applies not just to home mortgages, of course, but credit card 
fuelled consumption of mobile phones and cars, as well, of course, as Meat 
Loaf albums and fondue sets. 

The issue is not so much what people decide to spend their money on (the 
sociology of taste isn't really relevant here), but that so many people 
(across the income spectrum) are being lured into financially precarious 
situations. And financially precarious situations make people more fearful 
and likely to vote conservative. 

3. I had a shock the other day, re-reading the intro to Frow & Morris's 
Australian Cultural Studies Reader (1993). Didn't recognise the place.... 

Russell 
-- 


 
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