This page provides a glossary of terms beginning ‘O’. Each term usually provides links to other relevant materials on the FRAW site, and/or to Wikipedia and other on-line sources.
The control of a state by a small group or narrow set of economic interests. Arguably the USA, UK, and many other states are not true democracies, but are oligopolies where certain economic and vested interests have ‘captured the state’ – largely by funding political parties, influencing economic policy to favour their interests, and having control of the mass media to form public opinion.
See also: Anarchism, Bureaucracy, Democracy, Monarchy, Monopoly, Statism.
In social psychology, ‘the other’ is an identifiable group or groups who represent a locus for our fear or disapproval. ‘Othering’ is a natural part of how social individuals establish their self identity, as they consciously define a boundary between their life preferences by reference to others with whom they do not share that characteristic. What propaganda and political rhetoric seek to do is take this normal process and frame it within a political or social narrative, separating its supporters from the wider social body, and through that ‘in-group’ identity creating a mass social movement which disrupts the status quo. The most problematic emanation of ‘othering’ is the cultural encoding of ‘the other’ within nationalist or ethnic identities, allowing often irrational fears or beliefs to propagate harm, and even violence across generations.
See also: Stochastic violence.