These make up their frame of reference and perception. With few exceptions, it is this framework which insulates most from ever imagining an alternative social reality. And well it might be. It is no surprise, indeed it is to be expected, that resistance to oppressive conditions will erupt from time to time in one part of the world or another. In an earlier time, it was the Malaysians, the Kenyans, the Angolans, the Argentinians, and, no less, the Jews resisting the British Mandate in Palestine.
Definitional control can also work by omission.
Time' s roster of most influential Americans begins with a new golfing star and includes, among others, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, US Senator John McCain, a radio talk show host, a black scholar, a film producer, an economist, a product designer, a pop musician, a television talk show host, a mutual funds manager and the editor of the National Enquirer. Yet these two exceptions are individuals now separated from the power clusters that gave them their personal wealth. Time's listing confers authority mostly on service providers, not on the sources and wielders of genuine power in the country. Heading the list was General Electric, followed by Coca Cola, Exxon and Microsoft. How much more enlightened Time's readers might have been if these corporations headed its list of influentials.