The thing that floors me is that more people aren’t familiar with Dalrymple; it was your writing that brought me to him, I believe all via The Spectator. It all sounded like such a fresh take; it actually felt like a relief to read you both, as finally some common sense in a world of theoretical madness. But Dalrymple has been writing for years and years! How is he not as much of a household name as, say, Ibrahim X. Kendi? because everybody knows that guy’s name, and all he spouts is patent nonsense. It’s like there’s been a firewall keeping these concepts out of the mainstream when they very much need to be there. Lord help us there should be an actual solution. So many social-justice grifters put out of work! Can’t have that. You and Dalrymple have provided the formula for an individual to climb out of hopelessness. The world should be celebrating this news.
It’s ironic that people become activists due to a sense of guilt about their privileged upbringing, then cause harm to the very people they claim to care about.
Many people who escape a bad upbringing suffer from survivor guilt, and they also fall prey to harmful activism. That was me for too long. I still feel survivor guilt, but I realize that my being as miserable as my siblings would not and could not help them. I simply made harder, wiser choices. They were free to make similar choices, but did not. And I am heartbroken for them. Heartbroken.
Thanks for your insight. Makes me realize I’m too quick to judge, and probably can count myself among those people with a privileged upbringing, if not financially, then in other ways.
I am encountering more and more open discussion of negative cultural and policy trends (feminization, bureaucratic expansion, luxury belief diffusion, etc.). But it seems that these are mostly effectively firewalled, limited to heterodox podcasts and Substackers and YouTube content creators.
It's quite possible that the Blob is able to manage and co-opt ALL of these criticism without changing. It feels like we're in a race: reform the institutions, or see society crumble. But I see little evidence that the institutions are reforming at the necessary speed (or, on many issues, at all). That opens up the urgent question: what CAN be done? If elites can't be persuaded to risk their own status or positions in sufficient numbers (which is ultimately what calls for institutional reform require) then what's the path forward?
Personally, I see little sign that the elites are moving towards the ideas of evolutionary psychology and traditional wisdom quickly enough or in great enough numbers. Most of them seem to be, essentially, cowards.
In the 90s this book with a similar theme, was written by Myron magnet but nobody paid attention because this idea was definitely not a 'luxury belief'.
You got no status Pokemon points for talking about this.
The Dream and the Nightmare
Book by Myron Magnet
The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass by Myron Magnet argues that the cultural shifts of the 1960s, particularly among the white middle class, created the modern urban underclass by undermining traditional values like marriage, work ethic, and self-discipline, which closed off paths to the middle class for the poor. The book, published in 1993, links the counterculture's emphasis on expressive individualism to increased social pathologies like crime, illegitimacy, and dependency in disadvantaged communities, despite the Civil Rights Movement's success in removing legal barriers. It gained prominence after being cited by George W. Bush as a key influence on his "compassionate conservatism" philosophy.
Key arguments
Cultural shift:
The book posits that the 1960s counterculture's focus on lifestyle experimentation and "expressiveness" had catastrophic effects on the social fabric, particularly for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Erosion of values:
Magnet argues that values essential for upward mobility—like industriousness, sobriety, and self-discipline—were undermined, while welfare generosity and judicial leniency created "incentives to fail".
Creation of the underclass:
The cultural changes, not just economic factors, are presented as the cause of the modern underclass, which became trapped by a lack of the cultural capital needed to succeed.
Political impact:
The book was influential in conservative circles, with George W. Bush and Karl Rove citing it as a foundational text for the "compassionate conservatism" platform.
Thank You for mentioning the part about the woman CHOOSING to remain with her abusive boyfriend. I grew up with and was raised by battered women. They are NOT victims. You know who the actual victims are? Their CHILDREN.
Most battered women cling to their abusers like a dog to a bone. Battered women are often addicted to their abusers. And like most addicts, they will destroy anything and anyone - including their own children - to maintain access to their drug.
The statistic that most battered women leave then return to their abusers seven times before leaving permanently INFURIATES me. Why? Because many of these women have children. This means that they repeatedly gave their children hope for a safe non-violent home life, then ripped that hope away from them. SEVEN TIMES.
Battered women are unfit mothers, and they are no better - and often worse - than mothers with drug addictions (although there is a lot of overlap here).
I'm so tired of people making excuses for emotionally stunted women who subject themselves, their families, and worst of all, their dependent children to their sick need to "win over" the men who batter them.
Winning a Beast does NOT make you a Beauty.
It makes you a sick person incapable of making responsible choices.
I apologize for the rant, but I am beyond tired of children being treated as collateral damage when it comes to the stupid choices of adults.
how do we raise the kids ? our society does such a poor job of "foster" care that I can't see how society can break up this dynamic (male abuser and female victim "raising" children) since there is no place for the kids to go to !
"In polite society, with rare exceptions, saying that some actions are better, more worthwhile, or more moral than others marks one as a reactionary outcast. For the underclass, this refusal to judge leads to the misery that Dalrymple describes."
Part of this relates to what has become the culture of "cool." It's not cool to judge. It's not cool to work hard. Indeed, the opposite is "cool." Let everyone do whatever they want, no judgment. And working hard is for the "less talented" and "less fortunate." But, of course, to your point - no one who has succeeded actually holds those values. It's a front.
Quote: "Indeed, for life satisfaction, our relationships are at least as important as money. Yet our elites are reluctant to promote the nonmaterial factors that give rise to a rich and fulfilling life: marriage, friendship, social bonds, neighborliness, and so on. "
I read your book! I loved it!!! My husband and I live in the country and I have NO job (he works from home and I cook & garden & volunteer for meals on wheels). Rural Life Rules! And it's cheaper, too!
“Our society had made a collective decision to reward bad behavior and punish the good. The kid who is the most disruptive gets the most attention. The kids who are good quietly shut down. Teachers don’t have time to give them the attention they deserve because we are too busy managing the kids who are a threat to themselves and others on a daily basis.
“The good kids should matter more than the ones who are abjectly dysfunctional. But the system values the dysfunctional many times more. They get all the resources, all the excuses, all the time in the world. Only a small percentage of kids with IEPs can fail, else the school gets in trouble.”
I have been a member of MI for several years and subscribe to CITY JOURNAL.
On my list of living people I'd love to have dinner with and speak to is...Dalrymple, and thanks for the book recommendation. I had not realized it was already a quarter century old.
Americans would do well to listen to his warnings.
so well written. it is so fascinating to see how cultures evolve. with the end of the boomer demographic bulge, what lays in store for elite values ? a return to "traditional" (pre-internet technology) bourgeois values perhaps ?
your example of JFK as an elite leader proposing one set of values but living by another set (secretly) is excellent and revealing; the elite are hypocrites but the public values admired make a real difference for the culture ! the values chosen by the elites as aspirational goals for society can help or hurt the rest of us !
The Luxury Beliefs idea feels like a parallel to Tax the Rich. The underclass suffers from poor impulse control, low academic aptitude, and personal accountability, but blaming this on elites is taking the easy way out and doesn't address the real issue. Poor people trying meth aren't following the example of well-heeled rich kids trying cocaine. They're following the example of other poor people, probably the person giving them the meth. Witch-hunting elites who say silly things will not solve the problems of poverty.
It is my sense, though I could be wrong, that not all elites celebrate "liberation". A portion are either ignorant to the fact that the norms they uphold for society are so destructive, lack the courage to speak out against them or were only allowed to become elites if stepped in line. This points to a systematic problem which as Rob points out probably stems from the universities. We can be outraged at the gatekeeping elites, outrage has a lot of reach but solving the problem which still seems to have a lot of inertia is going to require more. Is there a roadmap or coordination in place to resolve this? Maybe publishing such things is counter productive.
The thing that floors me is that more people aren’t familiar with Dalrymple; it was your writing that brought me to him, I believe all via The Spectator. It all sounded like such a fresh take; it actually felt like a relief to read you both, as finally some common sense in a world of theoretical madness. But Dalrymple has been writing for years and years! How is he not as much of a household name as, say, Ibrahim X. Kendi? because everybody knows that guy’s name, and all he spouts is patent nonsense. It’s like there’s been a firewall keeping these concepts out of the mainstream when they very much need to be there. Lord help us there should be an actual solution. So many social-justice grifters put out of work! Can’t have that. You and Dalrymple have provided the formula for an individual to climb out of hopelessness. The world should be celebrating this news.
It’s ironic that people become activists due to a sense of guilt about their privileged upbringing, then cause harm to the very people they claim to care about.
Many people who escape a bad upbringing suffer from survivor guilt, and they also fall prey to harmful activism. That was me for too long. I still feel survivor guilt, but I realize that my being as miserable as my siblings would not and could not help them. I simply made harder, wiser choices. They were free to make similar choices, but did not. And I am heartbroken for them. Heartbroken.
Thanks for your insight. Makes me realize I’m too quick to judge, and probably can count myself among those people with a privileged upbringing, if not financially, then in other ways.
I am encountering more and more open discussion of negative cultural and policy trends (feminization, bureaucratic expansion, luxury belief diffusion, etc.). But it seems that these are mostly effectively firewalled, limited to heterodox podcasts and Substackers and YouTube content creators.
It's quite possible that the Blob is able to manage and co-opt ALL of these criticism without changing. It feels like we're in a race: reform the institutions, or see society crumble. But I see little evidence that the institutions are reforming at the necessary speed (or, on many issues, at all). That opens up the urgent question: what CAN be done? If elites can't be persuaded to risk their own status or positions in sufficient numbers (which is ultimately what calls for institutional reform require) then what's the path forward?
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/what-can-be-done
Personally, I see little sign that the elites are moving towards the ideas of evolutionary psychology and traditional wisdom quickly enough or in great enough numbers. Most of them seem to be, essentially, cowards.
In the 90s this book with a similar theme, was written by Myron magnet but nobody paid attention because this idea was definitely not a 'luxury belief'.
You got no status Pokemon points for talking about this.
The Dream and the Nightmare
Book by Myron Magnet
The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass by Myron Magnet argues that the cultural shifts of the 1960s, particularly among the white middle class, created the modern urban underclass by undermining traditional values like marriage, work ethic, and self-discipline, which closed off paths to the middle class for the poor. The book, published in 1993, links the counterculture's emphasis on expressive individualism to increased social pathologies like crime, illegitimacy, and dependency in disadvantaged communities, despite the Civil Rights Movement's success in removing legal barriers. It gained prominence after being cited by George W. Bush as a key influence on his "compassionate conservatism" philosophy.
Key arguments
Cultural shift:
The book posits that the 1960s counterculture's focus on lifestyle experimentation and "expressiveness" had catastrophic effects on the social fabric, particularly for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Erosion of values:
Magnet argues that values essential for upward mobility—like industriousness, sobriety, and self-discipline—were undermined, while welfare generosity and judicial leniency created "incentives to fail".
Creation of the underclass:
The cultural changes, not just economic factors, are presented as the cause of the modern underclass, which became trapped by a lack of the cultural capital needed to succeed.
Political impact:
The book was influential in conservative circles, with George W. Bush and Karl Rove citing it as a foundational text for the "compassionate conservatism" platform.
Thank You for mentioning the part about the woman CHOOSING to remain with her abusive boyfriend. I grew up with and was raised by battered women. They are NOT victims. You know who the actual victims are? Their CHILDREN.
Most battered women cling to their abusers like a dog to a bone. Battered women are often addicted to their abusers. And like most addicts, they will destroy anything and anyone - including their own children - to maintain access to their drug.
The statistic that most battered women leave then return to their abusers seven times before leaving permanently INFURIATES me. Why? Because many of these women have children. This means that they repeatedly gave their children hope for a safe non-violent home life, then ripped that hope away from them. SEVEN TIMES.
Battered women are unfit mothers, and they are no better - and often worse - than mothers with drug addictions (although there is a lot of overlap here).
I'm so tired of people making excuses for emotionally stunted women who subject themselves, their families, and worst of all, their dependent children to their sick need to "win over" the men who batter them.
Winning a Beast does NOT make you a Beauty.
It makes you a sick person incapable of making responsible choices.
I apologize for the rant, but I am beyond tired of children being treated as collateral damage when it comes to the stupid choices of adults.
CHILDREN'S LIVES MATTER.
how do we raise the kids ? our society does such a poor job of "foster" care that I can't see how society can break up this dynamic (male abuser and female victim "raising" children) since there is no place for the kids to go to !
Great post, as usual.
"In polite society, with rare exceptions, saying that some actions are better, more worthwhile, or more moral than others marks one as a reactionary outcast. For the underclass, this refusal to judge leads to the misery that Dalrymple describes."
Part of this relates to what has become the culture of "cool." It's not cool to judge. It's not cool to work hard. Indeed, the opposite is "cool." Let everyone do whatever they want, no judgment. And working hard is for the "less talented" and "less fortunate." But, of course, to your point - no one who has succeeded actually holds those values. It's a front.
Quote: "Indeed, for life satisfaction, our relationships are at least as important as money. Yet our elites are reluctant to promote the nonmaterial factors that give rise to a rich and fulfilling life: marriage, friendship, social bonds, neighborliness, and so on. "
That's why Rob is eventually going to start recommending https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0C9HKW
Or at least I hope so.
I read your book! I loved it!!! My husband and I live in the country and I have NO job (he works from home and I cook & garden & volunteer for meals on wheels). Rural Life Rules! And it's cheaper, too!
Thank you, Penny. You are the first reader I've heard from.
Apropos!!
“Our society had made a collective decision to reward bad behavior and punish the good. The kid who is the most disruptive gets the most attention. The kids who are good quietly shut down. Teachers don’t have time to give them the attention they deserve because we are too busy managing the kids who are a threat to themselves and others on a daily basis.
“The good kids should matter more than the ones who are abjectly dysfunctional. But the system values the dysfunctional many times more. They get all the resources, all the excuses, all the time in the world. Only a small percentage of kids with IEPs can fail, else the school gets in trouble.”
https://changeanythingwithapril.substack.com/p/who-cares-about-the-good-kids?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
I have been a member of MI for several years and subscribe to CITY JOURNAL.
On my list of living people I'd love to have dinner with and speak to is...Dalrymple, and thanks for the book recommendation. I had not realized it was already a quarter century old.
Americans would do well to listen to his warnings.
Great read.
so well written. it is so fascinating to see how cultures evolve. with the end of the boomer demographic bulge, what lays in store for elite values ? a return to "traditional" (pre-internet technology) bourgeois values perhaps ?
your example of JFK as an elite leader proposing one set of values but living by another set (secretly) is excellent and revealing; the elite are hypocrites but the public values admired make a real difference for the culture ! the values chosen by the elites as aspirational goals for society can help or hurt the rest of us !
The Luxury Beliefs idea feels like a parallel to Tax the Rich. The underclass suffers from poor impulse control, low academic aptitude, and personal accountability, but blaming this on elites is taking the easy way out and doesn't address the real issue. Poor people trying meth aren't following the example of well-heeled rich kids trying cocaine. They're following the example of other poor people, probably the person giving them the meth. Witch-hunting elites who say silly things will not solve the problems of poverty.
Funny to see the JFK mention. I've said half-jokingly that American drug policy should follow the JFK Rule:
"If our 35th President imbibed/injected it, we'll let it slide. Everything else is banned."
It is my sense, though I could be wrong, that not all elites celebrate "liberation". A portion are either ignorant to the fact that the norms they uphold for society are so destructive, lack the courage to speak out against them or were only allowed to become elites if stepped in line. This points to a systematic problem which as Rob points out probably stems from the universities. We can be outraged at the gatekeeping elites, outrage has a lot of reach but solving the problem which still seems to have a lot of inertia is going to require more. Is there a roadmap or coordination in place to resolve this? Maybe publishing such things is counter productive.