American Exceptionalism

Reeve Vanneman and Lynn Weber Cannon The American Perception of Class (1987)

American Exceptionalism

It is generally accepted that the Americans are not class conscious, and that American workers are not motivated by the desire for class struggle. American seems to be the exception — for example, in Europe worker's unions have actively sought to replace private ownership of the means of production by a system of collective ownership. This is called the thesis of American Exceptionalism.

Europe during the C19th provoked a working-class resistance that became of “spectre” threatening revolution. America, by contrast, was by the beginning of C20th remarkable for the weakness of the working-class.

As early as 1906 the German sociologist Werner Sombart asked the question, “Why is there no socialism in the United States?” Various answers have been proposed.

a.		Thernstrom, 1964: The American dream directs workers energy towards individualism. America is believed by workers to be the land of opportunity.
b.		Sombart, 1906: American prosperity deadens revolutionary consciousness.
c.		Louis Hartz, 1955: America lacks a feudal past that would have sharpened class divisions.
d.		Jerome Karabel, 1979; Mike Davis, 1986: Racial and ethnic divisions within America weaken the American working class.
e.		Seymour Martin Lipset, 1960, 1983: American workers won the right to vote earlier than their European counterparts, and so do not associate voting with class struggle.
f.		C.T.Husbands, 1976: The American two-party system provides no democratic outlet for American working-class sentiment.

According to Marx's theory, the progression towards a working-class revolution should be most marked in countries where capitalism is most advanced. Thus, according to this theory, the United States should have the most militant working class. It can be argued that whilst the American working classes are politically weak, the thesis of American exceptionalism is not as valid as is usually supposed. It is noted that no advanced industrial society has produced a Marxist revolution, so in this respect America is not an exception.

American Class Conflict

Thus, in contrast, it can be claimed that American class conflict does exist, but American unions and parties are unable to supply a natural outlet for working-class protest.

Unions. In 1985 only 18% of employed Americans were members of a union, which is by far the lowest rate of unionization of any industrialized country.

Government ownership. The United States has the lowest level of government ownership of industry among advanced industrialized countries. “American private capital enjoys unchallenged control in almost every sector of the economy.” In 1978 only 25% of the railways and 25% of the electricity utilities were under government control; none of the telecommunications, airlines, steel or automobile industries were state owned. The Democratic Party would not dare to include the extension of public ownership in its manifesto.

The size of the working class

Vannerman and Cannon advance the view that the middle classes must be limited to those who are self-employed, professionals and managers. To be counted as middle class you have to have a degree of control over other workers. By this category white collar workers, technicians, salespersons and even affluent craftsmen are not middle class. Using this classification, the size of the working class in America has increased over the century, both in number and in proportion.

Class divisions and party support

In the United States voting is not organized along class lines. Although usually labour in American politics supports the Democrats and the middle classes support the Republicans, this class-to-party relationship is weaker in the United States than in any other industrialized country. Additionally, the Democrats are financed in the same way as the Republicans — by business.

American voting

What American workers are most likely to do on election day is stay at home. “The lack of a genuine Left alternative fosters both the high rates of nonvoting and the low relationship between class and party.”

Class Consciousness in America

Vannerman and Cannon oppose the thesis of Sombart, Perlman, Hartz, Lipset, Hochschild, who all argue in one way or another that : “U.S. workers do not even think in the usual class categories; they see no sharp division separating capital and labour, but instead blur economic differences into a gradual hierarchy of status ranks. The workers' individual efforts to climb the status ladder leave them with little enthusiasm for collective action to change the hierarchy itself.” This is the thesis that the American dream has prevented the growth of class-consciousness.

In reply Vannerman and Cannon argue that Americans have a strong awareness of class divisions, but the real problem is that the working classes are politically and economically so weak that they cannot act collectively to bring about political change. There is no guarantee that concerted class action will lead to success.

Thus, to an extent the thesis of American exceptionalism is correct; however, the explanation does not lie in the consciousness of the American worker, but in the political system as a whole. Vannerman and Cannon oppose the psychological reductionism inherent in this critique of American class consciousness — that is the view that “the structure of any society can be reduced to the wishes and motivations of its members.”

The strength of the American dominant class is the single biggest determining factor. This strength has been increased by the fact that America has never been invaded, and the ruling classes never weakened as a result.