I’ve been wondering where to make this post. I don’t want to limit it to a book review. I would like to discuss the ideas presented in this book by Peter Turchin. (He wrote an earlier book called Ages of Discord where he went into details about the math and the statistics he used)

If you’ve read it, what are your thoughts? How to we convince the elites it’s in their best interest to stop fomenting dissent and stop their own infighting? IOW, reproduce something like the New Deal the US used in the 1930s to stop unrest and shrink inequality.

The primary drivers of social dissolution are the immiseration of the working class due to shrinking wages and the concomitant rise of elites who seize that capital for themselves. According to Turchin, there is no way to stop societal dissolution, political chaos and govt overthrow except by way of a reduction of the number of elites and a reduction in income inequality. The New Deal accomplished this via non-violent means, but history shows that violence is usually the method used. When violence occurs, many of us peons die (so competition for jobs decreases and wages go up), but elites also perish or get aggressively demoted into the lower echelon. A reduction in their numbers means there’s less skimming of the average person’s wages, and the less infighting in the elite ranks means that society can finally unify because we’re not being weaponized against each other.

The fixation by elites on social issues (like race, gender, patriotism, religion, trans rights etc) is a classic misdirect meant to get the working class divided into sides to “fight” for that particular elite group’s agenda. (and to cement that group into the ruling class).

I ramble. I just finished the book and found that it had many “ah ha” moments for me. I recommend it if you haven’t read it. If you have, I’d love to hear what you thought.