The Inversion of Totalitarianism

Traditional totalitarianism conjures images of jack-booted stormtroopers, death camps and gulags. In recent years a new variety of totalitarianism has emerged. Noted political theorist Sheldon Wolin calls it “the inversion of totalitarianism” and that it “represents the coming of age of corporate power and political demobilization of the citizenry. Unlike classical totalitarian systems which openly boasted of their intentions to force their societies in a preconceived totality, inverted totalitarianism is not expressly conceptualized as an ideology, nor is it objectified in public policy.” Corporations have de facto power and have carried out a slow-motion coup d’état. How to resist? Wolin says it starts at the local level.