This is the mentality that has driven politicians to pilfer expenses, businesses to avoid tax, and City bankers to demand ever greater bonuses while plunging the world into economic disaster.
All of these things are facilitated — even encouraged — by laws that are geared to cracking down on the smallest of misdemeanours committed by those at the bottom of the pecking order — for example, benefit fraud. These mentalities owe everything to the shared ideology of the modern establishment, a set of ideas that helps it to rationalise and justify its position and behaviour.
Often described as "neoliberalism", this ideology is based around a belief in so-called free markets: in transferring public assets to profit-driven businesses as far as possible; in a degree of opposition — if not hostility — to a formal role for the state in the economy; support for reducing the tax burden on private interests; and the driving back of any form of collective organisation that might challenge the status quo.
This ideology is often rationalised as "freedom" — particularly "economic freedom" — and wraps itself in the language of individualism.
These are beliefs that the establishment treats as common sense, as being a fact of life, just like the weather. Not to subscribe to these beliefs is to be outside today's establishment, to be dismissed by it as an eccentric at best, or even as an extremist fringe element. Members of the establishment genuinely believe in this ideology — but it is a set of beliefs and policies that, rather conveniently, guarantees them ever growing personal riches and power.
As well as a shared mentality, the establishment is cemented by financial links and a "revolving door": that is, powerful individuals gliding between the political, corporate and media worlds — or who manage to inhabit these various worlds at the same time. The terms of political debate are, in large part, dictated by a media controlled by a small number of exceptionally rich owners, while thinktanks and political parties are funded by wealthy individuals and corporate interests.
Many politicians are on the payroll of private businesses; along with civil servants, they end up working for companies interested in their policy areas, allowing them to profit from their public service — something that gives them a vested interest in an ideology that furthers corporate interests.
The business world benefits from the politicians' and civil servants' contacts, as well as an understanding of government structures and experience, allowing private firms to navigate their way to the very heart of power. Yet there is a logical flaw at the heart of establishment thinking. It may abhor the state — but it is completely dependent on the state to flourish.
Bailed-out banks; state-funded infrastructure; the state's protection of property; research and development; a workforce educated at great public expense; the topping up of wages too low to live on; numerous subsidies — all are examples of what could be described as a "socialism for the rich" that marks today's establishment. This establishment does not receive the scrutiny it deserves.
After all, it is the job of the media to shed light on the behaviour of those with power. But the British media is an integral part of the British establishment; its owners share the same underlying assumptions and mantras.
Instead, journalists and politicians alike obsessively critique and attack the behaviour of those at the bottom of society. Unemployed people and other benefit claimants; immigrants; public-sector workers — these are groups that have faced critical exposure or even outright vilification. This focus on the relatively powerless is all too convenient in deflecting anger away from those who actually wield power in British society.
To understand what today's establishment is and how it has changed, we have to go back to a Britain shaking off postwar austerity in favour of a new era of consumerism, rock'n'roll and Teddy Boys.
But there was a more sinister side to the country, and it disturbed an ambitious Tory journalist in his early 30s named Henry Fairlie. An example of an establishment is the tradition of fireworks on 4th of July. The firm celebrated twenty years since their establishment by updating their look.
Since their establishment of the company in , they have grown into a global business. Pedro's is a fine establishment serving a variety of delicious food. It's often necessary to question the establishment to get things done. The establishment of schools for girls was first attempted in The establishment of order in the town made the citizens happy.
Meanwhile he had been appointed physician advising on the establishment of a silk factory. In a movement began for the establishment of Australia. C1 [ U ] the process of starting or creating something, for example , an organization :.
Since its establishment in , the United Nations has played a dominant role in the development of international law. The establishment of new areas of employment is a priority.
Visitors come to shop in the fashionable new establishments downtown. She called for the establishment of nationwide academic standards. What percent of your establishment's total sales are from outside your country?
Since its establishment in the late s the company has grown steadily. Examples of establishment. Establishment pundits have been powerless to stop him. From ThinkProgress. One of the establishment's mortal sins is acting smarter than the establishment , and the establishment has numbers and mediums in its favor. From Philly. Real people are making a difference, as much as that horrifies the party establishment. From CNN. New rules for banks writing down mortgage principal and the establishment of a bank-paid fund to help with loan modification are on the table.
From TIME. But is it possible that when it comes to social practice that the art establishment has a blind spot too? From Los Angeles Times. Must be the worst establishment in the world. Establishment can also be used as an adjective to describe related things, as in establishment thinking. People who support this are called establishmentarians. Those who want church and state to be separate are called disestablishmentarians. Those who oppose this separation are called antidisestablishmentarians , and their opposition is called antidisestablishmentarianism which is a famously long word.
What are some other forms related to establishment? What are some words that share a root or word element with establishment? The word establishment is very common and used in many contexts. When it refers to the powers that be, it is often used negatively. To get a real feel of the campus eat a meal in the student cafeteria and visit local establishments around campus.
This year we are marking years since the establishment of the League of Nations, the first modern multilateral institution and a direct predecessor of the United Nations. The International Labour Organization ilo is also marking its centenary. Multilateralism Geneva pic. Slowly and quizzically, establishment thinkers are just now popping up their heads to entertain the notion that this is not a story of partisan business as usual.
Which of the following terms is NOT a synonym for the Establishment?
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