Paranoid Style of American Politics - Essay Example

Paranoid Style of American Politics One of the most influential theories with regard to the political, social and economic transformation of the United States has been the conspiracy theory which has always played a central role in the political developments in the nation. The American historian Richard J. Hofstadter’s essay under the title “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” is the classic statement of conspiracy theories as a means of social and political thought. In this article, Hofstadter deals with his historically grounded argument that the American political arena has always incorporated a paranoid element. By borrowing a clinical term and defining it in the political context of the nation, Hofstadter is effective in convincingly suggest how the notion of the paranoid style as a force in politics has influenced the American Civil War. In unambiguous words Hofstadter explains this tendency in the American political arena: “there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wind. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind.” (Hofstadter, 77) Significantly, the civil dissent leading to the American Civil War was caused by several historical themes such as the general prosperity of the times, the inflated rhetoric, the paranoid style, etc. As Hofstadter maintains, the paranoid style has been an old and recurrent phenomenon in American political scenario which is closely connected with ‘movements of suspicious discontent’. In a reflective exploration of the paranoid style in American politics, it becomes lucid that it has contributed immensely to the movement leading to the American Civil War. In a profound analysis of the importance of the concept of the paranoid style, one realizes that this persistent phenomenon in American politics has greatly influenced the American Civil War. In other words, a careful investigation of the concept of the paranoid style in American politics confirms that Richard Hofstadter described the conspiracy theory as a manifestation of the paranoid style in American politics. The concept of ‘political paranoia’, as introduced by Hofstadter, refers to the pathology suffered by the public on the outer surface of the pluralistic consensus promoting fears of conspiracy. When understood in the epistemological framework, the paranoid style as a conspiracy theory can be identified as existing in every type of fundamentalist thinking. In one of the most important works of contemporary studies on conspiracy theory, Hofstadter laid great emphasis on the rituals and symbols of popular political practice, and this explains the relationship between the paranoid style and the American Civil War. “For Hofstadter, politics as it is practiced and experienced on the popular level is not created from above and imposed on those below, nor is it composed simply of rational responses to policy issues or the platforms of political parties. Instead, popular politics exists in rituals and symbols.” (Fenster, 31) Significantly, the concept of the paranoid style suggests that the culture and non-rational behavior in American politics has played a dangerous and destructive role and one of the most essential examples of this phenomenon is the American Civil War. Hofstadter’s arguments concerning the paranoid style clearly suggest that there has always been room for this phenomenon in American politics and he is successful in tracing the influence of the paranoid style back to beginning of the American history. Therefore, it is essential to realize that the concept of the paranoid style has contributed enormously to an understanding of the causes of the American Civil War. The influence of the paranoid style in American politics on the American Civil War is an indubitable fact. Hofstadter’s concept of the paranoid style emphasizes the influence of conspiracy theory as well as the various ‘movements of suspicious discontent’ all the way through the history of America. As Hofstadter purports, ‘suspicious discontent’ has always been at work in the socio-political history of the nation and the social scenario prior to the American Civil War indicates the influence of the paranoid style in American politics. “‘Suspicious discontent’ has been at work throughout American history, beginning with the fears of Jeffersonian Democrats that the Federalists led by George Washington and John Adams were really trying to establish an American monarchy… Pre-Civil War abolitionists saw the South as an evil Slave Power determined to extend its influence over the entire country.” (Stewart) Therefore, the ‘suspicious discontent’ in the pre-Civil War context of America has been one of the basic factors contributing to the American Civil War. In this context, the role of the paranoid style in American politics as an influential factor in the American Civil War becomes palpable. In fact, the paranoid style in American politics has influenced almost every phenomenon that has taken place in the history of the nation. It is fundamental to realize that the American Civil War was greatly influenced by the general historical development of the ‘mass society’ of the period, where ‘suspicious discontent’ was very well at work. According to Hofstadter, the general historical development of the ‘mass society’ was one of the basic causes of the paranoid style in American politics. He also argues that the production and consumption of the paranoid style can be realized as the production and consumption of the mass culture. A distorted political judgment, such as the one that caused the American Civil War, is mainly due to a ‘distorted’ political style of suspicious discontent. “The problem created by the paranoid style did not particularly come from ‘the masses’, whose passions had always been reasonably well absorbed and blunted within the structures of American politics. But the masses were not themselves new; they had arisen before in the Populist era and been beaten back by the modern liberal state.” (Fenster, 38) Therefore, the paranoid style in the American politics which has been evolving all through its history has contributed drastically to the outbreak of the Civil War in the nation. In conclusion, the paranoid style in American politics refers to ‘the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy’ which has been at work all through the history of America. This concept clearly reflects the influence of conspiracy theory and ‘movements of suspicious discontent’ on the various political phenomena in American history. One of the essential examples of the influence of the paranoid style in American politics has been the American Civil War, which is the result of suspiciousness and conspiratorial fantasy of the period. Works Cited Fenster, Mark. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. University of Minnesota Press. 2008. P 31. Hofstadter, Richard. “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Harper’s Magazine. 1964. pp. 77-86. 15 Dec, 2010. . Stewart, Bill. The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Whirled View. 2009. 15 Dec, 2010. . Read More