Boomer Times & Senior Life, March 2007, Book of the Month.
Reviewed by Anita Finley.
Reprinted with the author’s permission

“The world is a puzzling place. Like Alice in Wonderland, people rush to go nowhere, too many things don’t make sense, and the threat of losing one’s head is ever present. It seems as if humanity has fallen down the rabbit hole and cannot find a way out. Yet, there is hope. If we can understand how we got here and what keeps us here, we can go forward.”
—Susan Rosenthal

This book is so apropos for today’s world and what so many of us are feeling — confusion and helplessness in response to problems in our lives and in the world. It was refreshing to read the answers to so many of the questions that we all ask or should be asking. For example, author Rosenthal quotes Bill Moyers as he ponders, “We are stealing the future of our grandchildren...betraying their trust...despoiling their world...and I ask myself: why?” As a recent grandmother of triplets, I too wonder what kind of world we are leaving to future generations.

“Social power is necessary for people to solve their problems,” writes author and physician Susan Rosenthal. In POWER and Powerlessness, she explains that most people lack the healthy, fulfilling lives they deserve because they are kept powerless and mistakenly accept this state of affairs as natural or self-inflicted. This book is original and impeccably researched, yet surprisingly easy to read. It explains:

• Why human health depends on strong social bonds.
• Four ways that capitalism disrupts social bonds and makes people sick.
• How disrupted social bonds form the link between individual and social problems.
• How the medical system manages misery instead of ending it.
• How we can create a healthy world.

POWER and Powerlessness is divided into four parts that answer four basic questions: What’s going on? How did this happen? Why do we put up with it? What will it take? The answers are contained in 16 “powerful” chapters. She quotes Arundhati Roy, Booker Prize winning author of The God of Small Things, “Why do we tolerate them? Why do we tolerate these men who use nuclear weapons to blackmail the entire human race?” Rosenthal does more than ask difficult questions, she offers solutions in the belief that human beings are capable of solving their problems. She doesn’t mince words. One quote that really pained me was by Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney: “We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.”

This book takes a hard look at the problems facing humanity, from the burdens on the family to environmental crisis and war, but it is not pessimistic. On the contrary, it offers hope for the future. POWER and Powerlessness should be required reading in every school. It is brilliant and on point. Many books will tell you what’s wrong with the world and what needs to be done. This book explains why we haven’t already done it.

Fourthwrite Magazine No 27, Autumn 2006 http://www.fourthwrite.ie/  
Review by Patricia Campbell, President, Independent Workers’ Union (Ireland)
Reprinted with the author’s permission.

Human rights activist Bernadette McAliskey coined the phrase “don’t appeal to the conscience of your oppressors – they have none” In her book POWER and Powerlessness, Susan Rosenthal reinforces this view and explains in detail why.

Rosenthal takes the view that society is divided into two classes, one that wields immense power(the ruling class) and another that experiences varying degrees of powerlessness (the working class). A medical doctor and psychotherapist with first-hand experience of broken lives and human suffering, Rosenthal explains why the few dominate the many and why the many stay powerless

If one were to design a human being that was perfectly suited to the capitalist system, Rosenthal contends that person would be a psychopath. Backed up by the American Psychiatric Association’s definition of a psychopath, she makes the point that the capitalist system, like the psychopath, is disconnected from emotions, having no empathy and no compassion, “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others”. She propagates, Capitalism is the most violent society ever created. The violence of those who fight the system is minuscule in comparison.

The ruling class profits at any human cost. ‘Seize the Surplus’ and ‘Compete or Die’ ensure that the biggest bully rules. It is more profitable to overwork one section of the labour force and keep the rest unemployed; maintaining a pool of unemployed workers pressures those with jobs to accept conditions they might otherwise reject. A myth is perpetuated that anyone can make it to the top if they work hard enough, are smart or ambitious enough. As a result, workers blame themselves and each other when they fail to advance. 

Beware of the middle ground she warns. The role of the middle class is to manage the working class. Within the middle class there are many well-intentioned Robin Hoodswho lobby for a more humane capitalist system. They want reform, not revolution. Rosenthal insists that the capitalist system cannot be reformed. We need a completely different system based on reciprocity, where no one takes anything from others or from Nature without giving back.

An advocate of maximising our similarities and minimising our differences, she condemns Nationalism because it unites people in one country by dividing them from the people in other counties. Employers play workers of different nations against each other to lower wages. Capital flows freely across borders in search of profits, yet borders block workers from uniting to raise their living standards. Capitalism gives workers two choices: be loyal to your nation and betray your class; or be loyal to your class and betray your nation.

Rosenthal analyses why people are weary of organising for an alternative to capitalism. Failed revolutions leave people dejected and believing that it is not possible to win. She argues that the working class in Russia was unable to hold onto power because there were no neighbouring revolutions to come to its aid, not because socialism doesn’t work. When people feel powerless, they use the psychological defence mechanism of dissociation. They disconnect from their turmoil and find escape where there is none. This state of mind enables inequality and exploitation to continue.

While much has been written about the problems of capitalism, Rosenthal has alternatives and solutions. She hasn’t given up hope for the future because “Humanity is Nature’s youngest child.”Capitalism is international, and the response to capitalism must be internationally organised. Workers must take charge of their unions, which were purged of class conscious militants and are now dominated by conservative bureaucrats. Rosenthal gives a powerful account of how life could be under a socialist system.

For those who support human and workers’ rights, reading this book will crystallize their thinking. Those who are willing to open their minds to new ways of thinking will be left with much food for thought. Rosenthal’s book will inspire all those who long for a better world. She has demonstrated a deep insight and knowledge into the workings of the system and her conviction that we can transform powerlessness into power will motivate many.

Perhaps more than any other sector of the economy, the health care industry illustrates the intractable contradictions of capitalism. The crisis of lack of access to services that growing numbers of workers face looms alongside stories of unique, innovative, “miraculous” medical interventions that lend hope to the desperate. The rising cost of medications is met with suggestions that elderly patients purchase drugs in Canada, while no one in a position to regulate the industry suggests capping prices or profits. And the most intractable contradiction – that human health is a commodity – passes as normalcy. Susan Rosenthal’s argument in POWER and Powerlessness is not new to socialists; however, her point of departure and the terrain on which she develops a cogent, insightful, sometimes humorous analysis of capitalism’s ills are as unexpected as they are relevant.

Rosenthal’s years of experience as a physician have taught her the ugly realities of commoditized human health, both mental and physical. If her study limited itself to an exposé of the industry, it would be an interesting and informative read. Instead, Rosenthal marries years of experience in health care with an in-depth Marxist analysis to expose how capitalism functions at every level and to insist on our ability to recreate the world on sane and humane terms. She begins by examining the nature of the powerlessness that many people feel, showing it to be the product of a system that rewards “psychopaths” (as long as they are in the ruling class), encourages passivity and discourages compassion (among workers). The dissociation that results from the onslaught of seemingly insolvable problems and irresolvable contradictions contributes to alienation.

“Every aspect of life is shaped by class inequality – the existence of immense wealth alongside enormous deprivation. … Dissociation allows people to respond to conflicting aspects of life as if they were not related.”

Rosenthal argues that alienation and dissociation should not be mistaken for indifference. Cutting against alienation requires an understanding of how we got here, an exposure of the “lies that bind us,” and clarity about how to organize politically for social change.

Rosenthal’s answers to the four key questions that organize this book – What’s going on? How did this happen? Why do we put up with it? and What will it take? – incorporate personal experiences, a wealth of research on issues from labor struggles to Iraq to the over diagnosis of ADD in school age children, with the critical arguments of Marxism. Rosenthal explains how “seize the surplus” allowed for the development of class society thereby permitting the technological advances that enable us, today, to meet the needs of the world’s entire population quite comfortably. Her research into current issues and her insights from her professional experience prove how this same rule, in the form of the pursuit of profit, now hampers human development. Rosenthal clearly demonstrates the myriad ways in which the drive for profit degrades all aspects of human experience, from work to creativity to interpersonal relationships, and exerts a stranglehold on social priorities, public spending, and even scientific research. “Seize the surplus,” Rosenthal demonstrates, is at odds with human nature, and for ruling classes to maintain their rule, they must deploy an array of ideologies designed to contradict human nature. Racism, nationalism, sexism, homophobia – all serve to keep people alienated from their basic humanity, to keep them powerless.

To reclaim power, Rosenthal proposes that we learn the lessons of history.

“Whoever controls production controls society; Only one class can rule…; Capitalism is an international system, so that socialism must also be international…; the working class needs a revolutionary party to organize the seizure of power.” 

Rosenthal’s explanations move between core Marxist ideas, current examples that illustrate the dynamics she’s explaining, and historical references that reveal the evolution and intractability of current social contradictions.

POWER and Powerlessness insists quite clearly that, contrary to everything we are taught, there are no individual solutions. Societal problems demand societal solutions, and such solutions can only be achieved through organization and cooperation – in other words, through a return to our basic humanity. Reclaiming the power demands that we break with the lies that alienate us and recreate a world based on human potential. This book was a pleasure to read, and has the potential to reach the growing numbers of people who know that something is wrong and who are seeking ways to engage in serious, transformational, revolutionary change.

Psychologica, Newsletter of the Ontario Association of Consultants, Counsellors, Psychometrists and Psychotherapists (in press).
Reviewed by Liv Capozzi
Reprinted with the author’s permission.

POWER and Powerlessness is a poignant, well written book that connects politics, economics, and human health. Dr. Susan Rosenthal draws from personal experience, and years of professional experience as an MD psychotherapist, to illustrate how human suffering flows from an imbalance of social power. Absolutely unapologetic in her position, and with a thoroughly researched argument, she shows how capitalism robs most people of the power to shape their lives.   

The book begins by dispelling the myth that modern social problems are a fundamental part of human existence. Dr. Rosenthal observes that, for most of human history, people relied on cooperation and reciprocity for survival.  However, the division of society into classes created an unjust and traumatizing social structure that pits people against each other. While many rebel, others feel powerless in the face of their problems and endure them by disassociating.

Dr. Rosenthal contends that the ruling class relies on and reinforces this sense of powerlessness. As an example, she cites the myth of “The American Dream,” which insinuates that poverty results from a lack of personal effort.  She also explains how cooperation is discouraged by emphasizing people’s differences and minimizing their similarities.

The book describes how powerless and trapped people feel within the capitalist machine. However, the book also provides hope for the future by emphasizing the human ability to overcome challenges. Dr. Rosenthal’s premise is that social problems require social solutions. The detailed exploration of these solutions evokes much thought on the role that mental health workers play.

Dr. Rosenthal argues that psychology is inherently political. Mental health professionals contribute to the experience of powerlessness (their own and their clients’) when they focus exclusively on the individual. While the treatment of individual suffering is important and necessary, ignoring the societal causes of distress leads to a blame-the-victim mentality. She provides a wealth of research to show that improving social conditions is the most effective way to improve individual health.

I found this book to be provocative and inspiring. POWER and Powerlessness is an excellent exploration of how the social fabric creates individual distress. While it vividly argues that capitalism is the cause of much human suffering, it also courageously explores how this can be changed.