Producerism

{{Economics}}
{{sources needed}}
'''Producerism''' is a term used in [[academic]] circles to describe a political viewpoint that stakes out a "radical [[centrism|center]]" or "[[Third Position|Third Way]]" course, which views a strong middle class as the productive element in [[society]].  This middle class is seen as under threat from both above — from big business and unregulated [[capital]] — and ''below'', from what are viewed as "non-productive" elements in society (which may include [[illegal immigration]], [[crime]], people on [[welfare]], or to use a [[Marxist]] concept, the {{wpl|lumpenproletariat|''lumpenproletariat''.}}) It is commonly identified as a [[conservatism|conservative]] philosophy, though not exclusively so, with a handful of liberals and leftists also adhering to it.

==Eat the rich, and the poor==
Conservatives who tend toward producerist views tend to support [[trade union]]s and governmental regulation of big business, while viewing small business favorably; small business being seen as part of the productive middle class, and big business seen as [[Parasite|parasitical]] and regarded with some disdain. Unlike left-wing unionists, though, producerism tends to see the [[working class]] and small capital as natural allies. On the other hand, producerism tends to oppose [[globalization]] and [[free trade]].  [[Social conservative]]s may hold producerist views on the grounds that the middle class is a stabilizing force and a repository of [[traditional values]], while big business (e.g. [[The Walt Disney Company]]) and the lower classes both promote [[moral decay]]. This is a sharp break from the post-[[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]/[[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] ''[[laissez-faire]]'' consensus on the right, in which the interests of big business and unregulated capital are given priority. Liberals who tend toward producerist views, meanwhile, will often speak in terms of "the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and the middle class being squeezed from both ends." A prosperous middle class is seen as a cushion against radicalism on both the [[Communism|extreme left]] and the [[Fascism|extreme right]], preventing the sort of social upheavals that would result in vulnerable and disadvantaged groups getting scapegoated and trampled on.

Producerism is often seen as one of the ideologies behind the post-[[New Deal]] consensus in the 1950s and '60s, which built a strong middle class but left some groups from below out, making the [[civil rights movement]] necessary. It is also often conflated with [[populism]], as it touts [[Traditional values|the virtues]] of [[No True Scotsman|the "real people"]], i.e. the middle class. [[Ross Perot]]'s [[Reform Party]] in the [[United States]] was also built heavily around producerist principles, there being little uniting the likes of the [[Paleoconservatism|paleoconservative]] [[Pat Buchanan]], the [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] [[Jesse Ventura]], and the leftists [[Social Therapy|Fred Newman]] and Lenora Fulani beyond economic nationalism. A more [[radical]] sort of producerism might uphold a largely agrarian and small-town society (as proposed by [[Thomas Jefferson]]) as the ideal, holding urban society as a whole (with both its large capitalist "from above" and lumpen "from below" elements in full display) in disdain, and envision an economy entirely of small businesses and small producers. [[Distributism]] is an attempt to codify this into an economic system.

==The dark side==
There also exists a [[white supremacist]] use of producerism. In this version, the "productive middle class" is really a [[loaded language|stand-in term]] for [[white people]], and the threats to the middle class from above and below are respective code words for [[international Jewish conspiracy|the Jews]] and people of color.  Any explicit [[racism]] may be further muddled with additional [[dog whistle]]s: the ever-present [[moral panic|threats to the silent majority]] will include international bankers, the [[plutocracy]], the [[Hollywood values|Hollywood establishment]], and tenured [[Red-baiting|Marxist]] university [[professor]]s from above, and [[crime]], [[drug]]s, [[gang]]s, [[Illegal immigration|illegal immigrants]], [[voter fraud]], Willie Horton, [[Anchor baby|anchor babies]], [[Hip-hop|Ice-T's "Cop Killer"]], Sistah Souljah, graffiti, [[Trayvon Martin]], and [[Welfare queen|single moms on welfare driving Cadillacs]] from below.

For an example of this sort of rhetoric with the racist overtones moderated into mere undertones, see [[Richard M. Nixon]], particularly his [[Southern Strategy]] and appeals to the "[[Silent Majority]]".  For a more radical and explicit example, [[Willis Carto]] made a career of (barely) disguising his hardline [[anti-Semitism]] and [[Neo-Nazism|Nazi apologism]] as populism and standing up for "the forgotten middle class" using producerist [[framing]].

==See also==
*[[Distributism]]
*[[Chuck Harder]]
*[[Paleoconservatism]]

[[Category:Economic philosophies]]
[[Category:Political philosophies]]
[[Category:Conservatism]]

Categories: Economic philosophies, Political philosophies, Conservatism