Culture, Society, and the Beautiful Necessity of Democratic Workers Unions
In an epoch defined by industrialization, technological change, and an often blinding pursuit of private gain, the philosophical distinction between culture and society has become increasingly blurred. This oversight undermines the valuable role society plays in safeguarding democratic freedoms and poses profound challenges to preserving cultural autonomy.
Drawing on the insights of Hannah Arendt, "the first woman philosopher," whose life exemplified the struggle for political freedom and intellectual independence, I have recently begun to explore the role democratic workers’ unions play in preserving cultural autonomy amidst tumultuous encroachments of capitalist techno-society.
Arendt, a beacon of personal freedom and intellectual resilience, was both a victim and witness to the horrors of Nazi Germany. She arrived in the United States in 1944 as a Jewish refugee, seeking solace in a new land that eventually became her home. By the mid-20th century, her ideas resonated through political power and discourse. Arendt's legacy is not confined to academia; her life serves as a poignant reminder of the risks and realities that arise when we navigate the contours of culture and society. Her experiences warn us of what can happen when structures that bridge the necessary distances between culture and society collapse under the weight of totalitarianism.
Arendt’s thinking on human natality (the fact of our birth) and human plurality (that our fundamental differences are what make us all the same) was shaped within the complex interplay of culture and society. Her unique ability to connect these distinct realms while maintaining their philosophical integrity is particularly useful for understanding both democracy and personal freedom today. Arendt's conceptual framework clearly defines “culture” and “society” as distinct yet interdependent realms of human experience. Where culture encompasses shared beliefs, values, and practices that bind individuals to a collective identity handed down through tradition, society guarantees a space of appearance where culture can flourish within the guiding frameworks of its provisions.
In the dialectic between culture and society, democratic workers’ unions emerge as a necessary defense against the over-exploitation of culture for economic gain and as a necessary protection against the over-reaches of mob mentality. At their core, democratic workers’ unions embody the collective cultural power of working-class people by challenging the hegemony of “social capital” by securing basic individual needs and community benefits. This can only happen, however, when cultural expression is able to reclaim spaces dominated by the over-reach of extractive techno-society.
Without the affordance of such protections, marched forward under the relentless pull of globalization and production demands, culture is forced to blindly navigate the increasingly complex labyrinth of modern techno-society. One reason for this is that cultural traditions are safeguarded within the passage of time, and if a culture cannot keep pace with the demands of its society, it is at risk of being subsumed by it. When cultural autonomy is threatened by the bureaucratic over-reach of society, the universal flame of human freedom dwindles and fades.
Money, and how much of our time we are willing to trade for it, is a useful tool for delineating between culture and society by defining the limits of what is private and public. Neutral in itself, money can either support and strengthen the necessary bridge between culture and society, or sever the delicate threads that bind them. For example, a person’s choice of currency implies endorsement of the societal structures that underpin its value. However, the meaning imbued by the particular type of currency exchanged, and the expectations of its use, are intertwined with a person’s cultural identity. For most workers, and particularly those in the Southern United States, money is a means for acquiring material goods like food, shelter, transportation, clothing, and accessing cultural experiences like sports and entertainment. For the emperor’s of techno-society, however, money can become the fuel for destructive pursuits of ever-more private gain and personal control. In this blinding compulsion, a person’s authentic connection to their cultural fabric is reduced to mere symbols of representation adorned for private benefit. This is what is meant by the term “cultural appropriation.”
Cultural identities, in contrast to social identities, are shaped by traditions that carry collective power through time. These identities are not easily discarded. Indeed, in some cases they are impossible to rid oneself of without causing extraordinary damage to the person’s capacity for making meaning of their life in shared community altogether. Social identities, however, are not governed by the particularities of a person’s birth but acquired during one’s lifetime as an identity of assent. This means for a social identity to be valid, a person must affirm their group affiliation through the use of commonly understood language and symbols in a public space of appearance. “Discriminatory segregation” is what occurs when opportunities for social affiliation that are necessary for accessing equally valuable resources are limited on the basis of a person’s cultural identity. This was the case with Black Americans in the Jim Crow South and with Jewish people forced to adorn the Star of David in Nazi Germany.
When individuals are engaged in paid work, they are invited to bring their cultural identity into a socially structured space of appearance afforded by their employer. In this way, “workers” are people who stand at the intersection of culture and society and make themselves equally visible to both worlds. When workers unite to advocate for safe working conditions, fair wages, and shared community benefits, they are better able to safeguard their material well-being. In turn, they are better equipped to nurture the cultural and social ecosystems they inhabit. It is within such crucibles of collective solidarity, where diverse individuals can unite for a common cause, that the seeds of democratic power and collective liberation have already been planted.
If a social structure aims to cultivate democratic and political freedoms, it must give due appreciation to the value of culture by viewing it through the dual lens of necessity and mutual benefit. Similarly, if a culture seeks to build sustainable infrastructures of opportunity for social affiliation and the access to resources it affords, it must learn to value society through the same dual lens. Cultural power, and its embodiment in democratic workers’ unions, is not an enemy to private interests. Social power, and its existence in governmental structures and currencies of exchange, is not an enemy to public concerns. The human spirit can thrive equally in both realms; but without a framework for public, unified, collective action among working-class people consciously choosing to live in the gap between culture and society, the fragile connection between these distinct worlds of experience could be lost altogether.
In our country’s quest for a stronger union, we must remember that certain philosophical truths underpin the freedom project of the United States of America—the most important being that all people are created equal. When we affirm this truth in word and action, the American Spirit is strengthened. When we stand in public with neighbors, friends, fellow workers, and people of good will, refusing to submit to any power that would strip us of our political freedoms for the sake of private gain, the American Spirit is strengthened. When we refuse to participate in our own domination, while also recognizing the responsibility we have to those who are not as free to choose, the American Spirit is strengthened. The American Spirit is rooted in the promise and ever-present possibility of an "America the Beautiful,” and it is strengthened when its fruits are realized in the collective
To make good on this promise, to honor our word, requires that we seek out and dismantle every form of domination that threatens her. In our effort to raise the seeds of collective liberation planted in the soil of our country’s philosophy, we must rightfully value, cultivate, and protect shared spaces of public appearance. Only in public spaces is culture afforded an equally dignified space of appearance in the garden of society—a garden it has helped tend from the start. We draw the strength for our mission from the revolutionary spirit of those who have gone before us to bravely safeguard our freedom project from those who would see her falter and fail. What appears self-evident today is that there can be no such thing as a “country of free men” that depends on the domination of any one person so another can flourish. Only in our courage to affirm the truth of our equality, a truth inherent to the fabric of reality, will we be endowed with the power to advance our freedom project forward together—not one step back.
E Pluribus Unum.
