DISABILITY GROUP

All these have
been deeply rooted values of our society (or at least of its
middle and upper classes [4] for a long time. These values are explicitly or implicitly expressed or presupposed
in most of the material presented to us by the mainstream
communications media and the educational system. Lef
tists, especially those of the oversocialized type, usually
do not rebel against these principles but justify their hostility to society by claiming (with some degree of truth)
that society is not living up to these principles

28. The leftist of the oversocialized type tries to get off
his psychological leash and assert his autonomy by rebelling. But usually he is not strong enough to rebel against
the most basic values of society. Generally speaking, the
goals of today’s leftists are NOT in conflict with the accepted morality. On the contrary, the left takes an accepted
moral principle, adopts it as its own, and then accuses
mainstream society of violating that principle. Examples:
racial equality, equality of the sexes, helping poor people,
peace as opposed to war, nonviolence generally, freedom
of expression, kindness to animals. More fundamentally,
the duty of the individual to serve society and the duty
of society to take care of the individual.

indness to animals. More
fundamentally, the duty of the individual to serve society and the duty of society to take care of the individual. All these have
been deeply rooted values of our society (or at least of its middle and upper classes [4] for a long time. These values are
explicitly or implicitly expressed or presupposed in most of the material presented to us by the mainstream communications
media and the educational system. Leftists, especially those of the oversocialized type, usually do not rebel against these
principles but justify their hostility to society by claiming (with some degree of truth) that society is not living up to these
principles

27. We argue that a very important and influential segment of the modern left is oversocialized and that their
oversocialization is of great importance in determining
the direction of modern leftism. Leftists of the oversocialized type tend to be intellectuals or members of the
upper-middle class. Notice that university intellectuals [3]
constitute the most highly socialized segment of our society and also the most leftwing segment.

28. The leftist of the oversocialized type tries to get off his psychological leash and assert his autonomy by rebelling. But
usually he is not strong enough to rebel against the most basic values of society. Generally speaking, the goals of today’s
leftists are NOT in conflict with the accepted morality. On the contrary, the left takes an accepted moral principle, adopts it as
its own, and then accuses mainstream society of violating that principle. Examples: racial equality, equality of the sexes,
helping poor people, peace as opposed to war, nonviolence generally, freedom of expression,

socialized person cannot even experience, without guilt,
thoughts or feelings that are contrary to the accepted morality; he cannot think “unclean” thoughts. And socialization is not just a matter of morality; we are socialized to
conform to many norms of behavior that do not fall under
the heading of morality. Thus the oversocialized person is
kept on a psychological leash and spends his life running
on rails that society has laid down for him. In many oversocialized people this results in a sense of constraint and
powerlessness that can be a severe hardship. We suggest
that oversocialization is among the more serious cruelties
that human being inflict on one another