Chris Dillow: Conning the working-class

Chris Dillow writes about how Capitalists are Conning the working-class.

Some laboratory experiments (pdf) by Philip J. Grossman and Mana Komai have shown how strong such within-class envy can be. They show that some of the poor are willing to attack other poor people even at their own expense. They conclude:

We find strong evidence of within class envy: the rich targeting the rich and the poor targeting the poor…Within the poor community, the target of envy is usually a poorer subject whose wealth is close to the attacker; the attacker may possibly be trying to preserve his/her relative ranking.

I say all this for a reason. It's tempting for lefties to believe that people vote Tory because of "neoliberal" ideology and the right-wing media. But there might be more to it than this. Even without such propaganda, there are cognitive biases at work which undermine class solidarity. I fear some on the left underestimate this fact because of the same cognitive bias which contributed to that woman voting Tory - wishful thinking.

Emphasis Mine

Yes, the divisions within the working class are based on cognitive biases. But these biases are fostered and engendered through Capitalism.

There is no natural way these biases can be overcome except through conscious action and though on the part of the working class.

Only we can liberate ourselves. There is no magic cure to Capitalism except the revolutionary change that originates in ourselves.