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Old 04-15-2009, 05:49 AM   #3 (permalink)
roachboy
 
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that's my basic observation, yes.

in some ways, it's obvious in the way the economic crisis has been "explained" in the us mainstream press---you get lots of references to general subjective comportments ("greed") which is then linked to a particular class fraction (the language of "the bankers" or the "wall street fat cats").

you can connect this to an institutioal interest: if the us press across the board parroted neoliberal claims (using words like "liberalization" or "deregulation") to frame information, and these terms ended up being basic conditions of possibility for the economic situation we're now moving through, preservation of credibility would require that a Problem be acknowledged but that it not be seen as structural, nor that it be seen as following from the way of framing information that the press itself integrated into its modes of presenting information.

so one trend is that you have a surfacing of the language of class conflict, but in ways that seem to make it anecdotal.
the "wall street fat cat" or the "mba financial wizards" or the "experts" in this interpretation are all versions of the "bad apple" theory...you know, the system itself is neutral, and problems are caused by a few deviations...

but i'm not sure that this is anything like a comprehensive view of how this language is working.
i thought it'd be interesting to try to put one together alongside a discussion or debate or fight about what's happening with this sudden realization that class stratification exists...
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