Abstract
A sense of political alienation is certainly not unique to our era, as seen in the writings of the fifteenth-century French poet Deschamps. Many commentators on modern social life nevertheless view estrangement from power and politics as a fundamental and pervasive characteristic of all urban-industrial-bureaucratic societies: ‘Rarely before have men experienced such mass resignation before the forces of society, such a sense of distance from the sources of power, such defeatism in the face of an explosive world situation’ (Keniston, 1960).
Why are the times so dark? Men know each other not at all, But governments quite clearly change From bad to worse. Days dead and gone were more worth while. Now what holds sway? Deep gloom and boredom, Justice and law nowhere to be found. I know no more where I belong.
Eustache Deschamps
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© 1976 H. E. Stenfert Kroese bv, Leiden
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Olsen, M.E. (1976). Political Powerlessness as Reality. In: Geyer, R.F., Schweitzer, D.R. (eds) Theories of Alienation. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8813-5_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8813-5_11
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