Political Economy in the Conservative Hour

In this chapter we first review Galbraith’ s analysis of the failure of economic thought and policy that paved the way for the Conservative Hour. Thereafter we turn our attention to The Anatomy of Power (1983a), The Culture of Contentment (1992a), and The Good Society (1996). The first is the most focused discussion of power that Galbraith provided. It offers a taxonomy and analysis of this fundamental force in the social system. The second presents Galbraith’ s view that a new socioeconomic class dynamic has arisen, that between the relatively affluent, who tend to be politically active, and the less advantaged, who are relatively inactive politically. A vanguard of sorts are the socially concerned who seek public policy measures aimed at supporting the disadvantaged, both domestically and transnationally. Galbraith musters some optimism about the force of historical circumstance but nothing like the optimism he earlier had ascribed to the scientific-intellectual estate (The Socially Concerned Today, 1998a, pp. 30–1). The socially concerned are the sizeable minority of the affluent whose political attitudes include looking ‘ beyond personal contentment to a concern for those who do not share the comparative well-being’ (Contentment, p. 17). The Good Society is a concise discussion of Galbraith’ s vision of the guiding principles for the socially concerned.