Date of Award
2025
First Advisor
Professor Dan Neilson
Second Advisor
Professor Xin Tong
Abstract
This thesis analyzes the various economic and political trends in American society that have erupted since the death of neoliberalism in 2008. An economic theory that this thesis puts forward, reproletarianization, suggests that major portions of the petit bourgeoisie/professional managerial class within the United States will be unable to reproduce their class standing due to higher professionalization costs and costs of living. This, along with reindustrialization policies pursued by both the first Trump administration, the Biden-Harris administration, and the second Trump administration, will force many in the petit-bourgeoisie/PMC into industrially-based proletarian jobs. Coupled with this economic analysis is a political analysis that is trying to determine which state form, out of either a bourgeois-democratic state or a fascist state, that the United States is taking on. There is a comparison of bourgeois-democratic and fascist methods of wielding the state, with an explanation and analysis of the United States shift to neomercantilism in political and economic policies post-2016, when Trump was first elected. Neomercantilism is the system of policies, economic beliefs, and political beliefs that has replaced neoliberalism in both the Republican and Democratic parties. This ideology is bent on rewiring the system of global trade through protectionist policies–such as tariffs–in order to reindustrialize the U.S. economy. Such policies must be pursued by the American bourgeoisie because of the rise of China as an imperialist power, and while these economic and political policies are more repressive than past neoliberal policies, this does not mean that the U.S. has become a fascist state. In fact, the general conclusion of this thesis is that for now, the United States is still a bourgeois–democratic state that is adopting some fascist policies. This conclusion is based on analyses of fascism made by Nicos Poulantzas, Ralf Dahrendorf, R. Palme Dutt, and Georgi Dmitrov.
Recommended Citation
Mach, Parker, "The Era of Neomercantilism: An Analysis of Fascism in the U.S. During Reproletarianization" (2025). Senior Theses. 1713.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/sr-theses/1713
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