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Pensée unique Template:Italic title The "Single Thought" (French for "single thought") in economy describes, with negative sense, the cultural hegemony of Neoliberalism and Capitalistic ideologies in the late XX century. The expression "pensée unique" (French for "single thought") describes any kind of mainstream conformist thinking.

Concept and background understanding

"What is the Single Thought?" It is the translation into ideological terms, claimed as universal, of the interests of a set of economic forces, and specifically those of the International capital. » (Ignacio Ramonet, [1]) The term was coined in January 1995 in an editorial of Le Monde diplomatique [1] by Ignacio Ramonet, editor of "Le Monde Diplomatique" and honorary member of Attac. He sees it as "the concept of the primacy of economics over politics", which becomes stronger because an inattentive Marxism does not criticises it» [1].

The critic to the "Single Thought" intends to point out the increasing reduction of the political debate, on issues imposed from above and too often taken for granted and not contestable by the dominant culture. For example, it was very well-known the populist sentence "There Is No Alternative" by Margaret Thatcher, Former UK prime minister, often summarized in acronym as TINA, and widely adopted by other politicians (for example Gerhard Schröder, former prime Minister of Germany: he translated the sentence in German: "Es gibt keine Alternativen ...") [2].

Among the untouchables basics named as "Axioms" of Neo-liberalism ideology, critics tend to dispute the following points:

a)The capitalistic liberal economy (and the unlimited growth dogma) as a science that governs society. Indeed Politics and all other cultural choices tend to be influenced and enslaved to the Economic Power. b)The market as the main parameter that determines the success or failure of every human activity in general. c)Social services, education, health, environment and welfare entrusted largely to private initiative and to the liberal market law. d) The implementation of laws about the "Protection of foreign investments and capitals" as predominant on the National Sovereignty, with consequent loss of Democracy.

THE SINGLE THOUGHT AS PSEUDO-SCIENCE. Some authors have summarized the concept of the Single Thought in the economic field as an empty ideology, built for the sole purpose of defending the interests of billionairs-casta.

The lawyer and economist Nando Ioppolo defined the single thought as "Nothing else but the false consciousness of the super-rich people, and nothing but the imagery that makes the ideological envelope and cover of the partisan interests of the super-rich people casta" [3].

"Pensée unique" is a pejorative expression referring to mainstream ideological conformism of any kind, almost always opposed to that of the speaker. Originally, it is a French expression and referred to claims that neoliberalism is the only correct way to structure society. The phrase implies that mainstream discussion is limited by ideological assumptions of what is possible. One example of pensée unique given by critics was the motto of Margaret Thatcher (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom): TINA ("There is no alternative"), which was picked up word-for-word in translation by Gerhard Schröder (former Chancellor of Germany) as "Es gibt keine Alternative...".

The expression was coined by Jean-François Kahn, editor-in-chief of L'Evenement du Jeudi, in an editorial in January 1992. The phrase pensée unique is often used by political parties and organisations and in criticism.

“The culture of selfishness. The human soul under the age of capitalism”. (Original Title- la culture de l'égoïsme) is a book by Cornelius Castoriadis and Christopher Lasch. This titile best summarizes the psycological origin of the Capitalism and Neoliberalism ideologies and leads to further insights in the operas of Socrates, who considered Egoism to be the highest type of "Human ignorance".

The critic to the "Single Thought" became urgent because of the increasing concentration of wealth and MEDIA in the hands of lobbies. "The vast and growing gap between rich and poor has been laid bare in a new Oxfam report showing that the 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population". The Guardian- 18 January 2016 . "Timed to coincide with this week’s gathering of many of the super-rich at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the report calls for urgent action to deal with a trend showing that 1% of people own more wealth than the other 99% combined".The Guardian- 18 January 2016 .

To a lesser extent the term "Single Thought" has been used regarding prohibitionism of marijuana, with some commenters saying that pensée unique is a barrier to legalization.

See also

• International Monetary Fund
• Dictatorship of the Single Thought
• Washington Consensus
• Alter-globalization
• Anti-globalization
• Cultural hegemony
• Cultural imperialism
• Economism
• New Philosophers
• Political correctness
• Punto Fijo Pact
• Spanish transition to democracy
• National Front (Colombia)
• Conventional wisdom

Further reading

• Marco Rotondi, Formazione di valore. Come sviluppare valori per la società della conoscenza, Aif - Associazione italiana formatori (2006); ISBN 9788846478177
• Enzo Tiezzi, Nadia Marchettini, Che cos'è lo sviluppo sostenibile? Le basi scientifiche della sostenibilità e i guasti del pensiero unico, ed. Donzelli, Roma (1999); ISBN 9788879894876
• (FR) AAVV (Philippe Tesson, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Alain Griotteray, Françoise Thom, Michel Godet, Jean Foyer et alii), La Pensée unique: le vrai procès, ed. economica Jean-Marc Chardon et Denis Lensel, Parigi (1998); ISBN 9782717837452
• La pensée unique, collective work (with Jean Foyer and Jean-Pierre Thiollet), Economica/JM. Chardon & D.Lensel Ed., Paris, 1998. ISBN 2-7178-3745-0
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates