Arts , Humanities & Social Science

Abstract

Jurgen Habermas in Legitimation Crisis (1975) argued that advanced capitalism comes with complex contradictions that are not easily solved. As global monopoly capital becomes the predominant economic arrangement, state intervention is needed to provide steering for the economy to deliver growth and stability. Politically, states must inspire confidence and mass loyalty to the system, the entire political system. Political participation is limited, as corporate interests truncate real democracy. When belief lags in existing institutions to provide a viable life in the system, a crisis of legitimation ensues as people begin to withdraw their support for the system, typically by the public’s refusal to purchase goods or agreeably (peacefully) protest the status quo. As a direct threat to the economy, the refusal to buy products threatens to wreck the entire system centered on the economy.