Managerial-Therapeutic Regime

Discussion

BY MARK WEGIERSKI:

"Present-day society’s ruling structures are best described in terms of a “managerial right” and a “therapeutic left,” as a number of social critics across the spectrum have argued. These critics include the editor of this magazine, U.S. paleoconservative theorist Paul Gottfried, as well as Frankfurt School-inspired philosopher Paul Piccone. Piccone’s interpretation of the Frankfurt School was rather unusual since he saw those figures as some of the most profound critics of the managerial-therapeutic regime—as opposed to the far more common view that the Frankfurt School had been instrumental in the institution of that regime.

According to Gottfried and Piccone, there currently exists a pseudo-opposition between the officially approved “right” and “left,” which—although riven in apparent conflict—in fact represent little more than a debate between managerial styles. The managerial right, typified by soulless multinational or transnational corporations (including the big banks and financial firms bailed out by over $1 trillion in U.S. taxpayer money), represents the consumerist, business, economic side of the system. The therapeutic left, typified by arrogant social engineers, represents redistribution of resources along politically correct lines, and “sensitivity training” for recalcitrants. Traditionalists and some eclectic left wingers oppose both the managerial right and the therapeutic left, which together constitute today’s new Establishment.

The left is also identified today, by some traditionalist and eclectic critics, such as Michael Medved (author of Hollywood vs. America) and Daniel Bell (author of The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism), with the rougher edges of pop culture, which seek to negate traditional social norms. The profit motive of the corporations and the rebelliousness of the cultural left—and of late modern culture in general—feed off of each other, creating woke capitalism."

(https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/labor-day-and-a-changed-left/)