Charles Derber
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Charles Derber is an American academic, author and political activist. He is Professor of
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
at
Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...
. His work focuses on capitalism, globalization, corporate power and oligarchy, populism, authoritarianism and democracy, militarism, the climate crisis, cultural individualism, and social justice movements. In Derber's view, the overwhelming economic and cultural power of global corporations, the crises of global capitalism and climate change, and the rise of Far-Right populist and neo-fascist threats to democracy, have become the pre-eminent problems of the 21st century. He advocates a new vision and political movement, orienting his research toward systemic analyses of what he believes are the intertwined crises society faces and the transformative potential of social movements aimed at creating a more democratic and egalitarian order.


Early life and education

Derber was born in Washington DC in January 1944, the son of New Deal economist Milton Derber. Derber read the works of
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse ( ; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German–American philosopher, social critic, and Political philosophy, political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at ...
while in jail for protesting the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. He attended
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 and was a member of Manuscript Society. He then studied at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
where he earned a PhD in sociology.


Career

Derber began teaching at Brandeis University in 1970 and switched to Boston College in 1980. He became a professor in 1991 and has been teaching in the graduate program on social economy and social justice ever since. He has published 29 books, translated into 14 languages, with several best-selling works. Derber's work falls into three major categories. One is a critique of individualism and American culture. His 1980 book ''The Pursuit of Attention'' focuses on ego-centeredness and " conversational narcissism" in everyday life, which he shows are structured by class, gender, and America's individualistic culture. In 2000, Oxford University Press printed a 20th year commemorative edition of the book. ''The Wilding of America'', in its sixth edition, is a widely used text in American sociology. It offers a sharp critique of the American Dream and hyper-individualism. His newest 2025 book, Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations and the Quest for Democracy, argues that market-driven competition and greed are breaking down social relations and community, leading to American sociocide, an epidemic of loneliness, and a breeding ground of authoritarianism. Derber is best known to the general public for his analysis of
corporate A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of s ...
power and globalization. His book ''Corporation Nation'' argues that corporations penetrate and control every sector of American life. In addition, his book ''People Before Profit'', which critiques corporate globalization and proposes alternatives, has been published in five languages. His books, ''Regime Change Begins at Home'' and ''Hidden Power'' deal with the marriage of political and economic power in America. The two books discuss "corporate regimes" and how they can degrade into fascism, a theme of his later books, "Moving Beyond Fear" and "Glorious Causes," both co-authored with Yale Magrass. In 2006, the Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) nominated ''Hidden Power'' as one of the three best American books on current events. Derber's interests evolved to focus on ideology and political morality, as well as the new dynamics of global capitalism and of movements such as the Occupy Movement that challenge it. His 2008 book ''Morality Wars'' analyzes hegemonic discourses from the Roman Empire to the present. It also examines religious and "born again" ideologies, from German fascism to contemporary evangelical politics in the United States. Another 2008 book, with Katherine Adam, ''The New Feminized Majority'', examines the gendered character of values and politics in America. It argues that a new electoral majority has embraced progressive values historically associated with women, values now shared by millions of men. In 2010, Derber published ''Greed to Green: Solving Climate Change and Remaking the Economy'', which argues that
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
is a symptom of a "dysfunctional lifestyle" that can be solved only through a transformation of American capitalism and neo-liberal globalization. He asserts that society is seeing a third wave environmentalism that is inseparable from the broader social and economic justice movements. In 2011, he published ''Marx's Ghost: Midnight Conversations on Changing the World'', also translated into five languages. In an imaginative encounter, Derber engages Marx's ghost in a provocative conversation about today's crises, relying extensively on Marx's own quotations. Turning to a genre of literary social science, based on conversation, Derber lays out alternative visions and political strategies for movements such as the Occupy Movement. Derber's 2012 book ''The Surplus American: How the 1% Is Making Us Redundant'', co-authored with Yale Magrass, continues Derber's evolution into new genres of political writing. ''The Surplus American'' features not only an analysis of what he calls "surplus people"—that is, those without jobs or any meaningful place in society—but a concluding play that was performed at
Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...
and other colleges. The book describes a
dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...
in 2020 in which the majority of Americans have been rendered redundant through
outsourcing Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another ...
, technological change, and a corporate strategy to abandon the entire US economic infrastructure. While first drafted before the rise of the Occupy Movement, the analysis is structured around a confrontation on Wall Street between financial elites and "surplus people" protesters. In 2013, Derber published his book ''Sociopathic Society'' with Paradigm Publishers. The book states that a society can be based on what he views as "anti-social values," which lead toward violence, fascism, and sociocide. Derber argues that today's hyper-individualistic version of the American Dream is the "master cultural script" of US capitalism and helps fuel these potential perils in the US today. In 2017, Derber published ''Welcome to the Revolution: Universalizing Resistance for Social Justice''.Routledge; Welcome to the Revolution: Universalizing Resistance for Social Justice
/ref> It explores the anti-Trump resistance movement and the anti-systemic universalizing movement that believes are needed to transform contemporary militarized capitalism. In conjunction with that book, Derber has brought together leaders of unions and many social justice movements to examine what those groups should do next to achieve their political goals. With Routledge Publishers, Derber edits the ''Universalizing Resistance'' Book Series, in which leading
critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
intellectuals and activists analyze and flesh out stories of mass anti-systemic resistance that move beyond the siloes of
identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...
in the left and progressive movements. In that series, Derber has co-edited some books about and with
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
, funded by the progressive Wallace Global Fund, including Internationalism or Extinction in 2019 and Chomsky For Activists in 2020. His book published in July 2023 is ''Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Is Fueling Our Extinction - and What We Can Do About It'' with Suren Moodliar; the book analyzes corporate capitalism, climate change, and militarism as a deadly "triangle of extinction" and offers an approach to combating it. In August 2024, Derber and Yale Magrass published a new book titled ''Who Owns Democracy?''. The book is written in a conversational format, focusing on the history and future of capitalism, fascism, and democracy in the US. It asserts that Trumpism is the latest expression of a long tradition of American authoritarianism, but also highlights the power of US historical struggles for economic and political democracy. His most recent books on roots of and resistance to authoritarianism include Bonfire, cited above, and his forthcoming book, Fighting Oligarchy: How Positive Populism Can Reclaim America, which shows how a Left-leaning positive populism can defeat the Far-Right populism reigning in the Trump era.


Works

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References


External links


Interview with Chris Hedges, ''On Contact''

Charles Derber discusses Sociology, Noam Chomsky and the media
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derber, Charles 1944 births Living people American political writers American male non-fiction writers American sociologists Boston College faculty Yale University alumni University of Chicago alumni Narcissism writers American anti-war activists Anti-corporate activists