The Limitations of Partisan Politics

I don’t vote.

As I explained to Nick Gillespie, I stopped voting as I transitioned into social science. Putting on a jersey and rooting for a team was messing up my work (and that of my peers), so I decided to take a step back from participation in horseraces (although I still vote for ballot initiatives, etc.).

What I told Nick was true. But, perhaps, it wasn’t the whole truth. If I’m being fully honest, another part of my reason for abstaining was the growing realization that, when the chips are down, and the rubber meets the road, the Democratic Party is basically useless. Often, in fact, they’re a big part of the problem. This reality shone through clearly to me while researching my book.

The core puzzle We Have Never Been Woke tries to grapple with is that, from the beginning of our professions, symbolic capitalists have defined ourselves in terms of altruism and serving the common good. We have higher pay, prestige and autonomy than most other workers in America. We have a lot more cultural and political influence too. We have consistently insisted that it’s necessary to preserve and enhance these benefits – not for our own sake, but to empower us to help everyone in society, including and especially the least among us.

In terms of moral and political affiliations, the slice of Americans that are most likely to self-identify as antiracists, feminists, environmentalists or allies to LGBTQ people are also the same slice of society that dominates the symbolic professions. Symbolic capitalists overwhelmingly self-identify as “liberal,” “progressive,” or “left.” We vote overwhelmingly and increasingly for the Democratic Party.

Given how we tend to define ourselves, what one might expect is that as more wealth and power was consolidated in our hands, we’d see longstanding social problems getting ameliorated, inequalities would shrink, social tensions would be eased thanks to the adjudication of experts who make decisions based on “the facts” and “merit,” and we’d see growing trust in institutions because of all the great work we’re doing. This is what previous generations of symbolic capitalists promised would happen – and it’s a story we continue to tell.

Over the last 50 years, there were significant changes to the global socioeconomic order that radically enhanced the affluence and influence of symbolic capitalists relative to everyone else in society. However, the results from this transition are ...