Carrie Tirado Bramen begins with a reference to Trump, who often describes himself as a “nice person”. Trump divides the world into nice and nasty, demonstrating how likeability and sociability are more powerful than politics. However, Trump is not the only public figure to emphasize niceness. Rather, niceness is a tool commonly utilized as a way to combat societal insecurity due to the neoliberal policies that dismantled the welfare state. Neoliberalism has led to what Bramen denotes as “soulless individualism”, a result of the “corporate takeover” of social life. Margaret Thatcher, as well as George Bush and David Cameron, formulated a privatized niceness or “compassionate conservatism”; individuals should rely on each other, not the state, for support. Niceness can serve to both enable capitalism by blurring class lines, and undermine capitalism by justifying social welfare policy. Niceness, although a simple and everyday mode of sociality, functions paradoxically. We often see niceness in the corporate world. Values such as cooperation and collaboration have flourished as a management style in the workplace, and values of niceness are fundamental to customer service. However, especially in customer service, niceness simply masks underlying hostility and passive aggressiveness. In this way, niceness can function as a tool for totalitarianism, masking the true intent of autocratic leaders by disguising their cruel intentions via affability. Even in the United States, this kind of totalitarianism has emerged in the form of inverted totalitarianism, denoted by Wolin, where democracy exists without an active citizenry participating in it. Inverted totalitarianism is marked by optimism and neoliberal niceness by which the ruling class can assure the people that everything will be okay while assuaging class conflict. Niceness precedes neoliberalism, and in fact has worked to maintain class stratifications since their emergence in the Jacksonian era. Niceness compensates for a lack of economic equality by providing social equality; it’s seen as honorable to be respectful towards service people. Niceness is a form of noblesse oblige, or a way the privileged act with generosity towards those with less privilege. Niceness can also work to enforce social equality. Bramen illustrates the contrast between Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain; Obama was friendly to a security officer at 10 Downing Street, shaking his hand, while the PM did not acknowledge the security guard. Furthermore, the Obamas thanked every servant for their hospitality, performing aristocracy and social equity. In this way, niceness enforces egalitarianism and noblesse oblige. Individuals in a class-stratified society counter class differences by niceness, which compensates for class inequalities while doing nothing to dismantle inequity. As Bramen remarks, “economics of access are replaced with the gestures of access”. Neoliberalism has made the personal non-political and privatized, but Bramen argues that re-politicizing the personal can challenge neoliberalism by restoring politics among private individuals and connect interpersonal relationships to the larger public sphere to inspire greater societal unity. Unlike neoliberal niceness, nonmarket niceness defines relationships and behaviors that do not exist for profit but rather for social well-being. In social movements since Trump’s election, this particular form of nonmarket nicessness has been utilized to counter hate. For instance, Lady Gaga tweeted, “Stand up for kindness” and signs at the Women’s March read, “Make America kind again”. Nonmarket niceness is more like hope than optimism; optimism is conservative and perpetuates the status quo, whereas hope is more uncertain and allows us to imagine other socio-political structures that are not centered on neoliberalism. Pope Francis epitomizes hope with his vision of solidarity that requires face to face human connection. Jane Addams in Hull House aimed to bring the elite and immigrant into the same home in order to foster this same kind of face to face solidarity . However, this fell apart during the Pullman strike when George Pullman, the owner of the Pullman Company, refused to compromise. This failure demonstrates that niceness is sometimes not a productive strategy; it relies on persuading elites to do the right thing for the sake of niceness. In some circumstances, the only way to dismantle class hierarchy and oppressive institutions like slavery is through civil disobedience and non-niceness. In oppressive situations, niceness can be utilized to keep the oppressed in their place by deprioritizing other

中文翻译：

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新自由主义时代的美好

凯莉·蒂拉多·布拉曼 (Carrie Tirado Bramen) 一开始就提到了特朗普，后者经常将自己描述为“好人”。特朗普将世界分为好与坏，展示了可爱和社交比政治更强大。然而，特朗普并不是唯一一个强调友善的公众人物。相反，由于新自由主义政策废除了福利国家，善意是一种通常用作对抗社会不安全感的工具。新自由主义导致了布拉门所说的“没有灵魂的个人主义”，这是“企业接管”社会生活的结果。玛格丽特·撒切尔 (Margaret Thatcher) 以及乔治·布什 (George Bush) 和大卫·卡梅伦 (David Cameron) 制定了一种私有化的友善或“富有同情心的保守主义”；个人应该相互依赖，而不是国家的支持。善良可以通过模糊阶级界限来促进资本主义，并通过证明社会福利政策的正当性来破坏资本主义。美好虽然是一种简单而日常的社交方式，但其功能却自相矛盾。我们经常在企业界看到友善。合作与协作等价值观已成为工作场所的一种管理风格，而友善的价值观是客户服务的基础。然而，特别是在客户服务中，友善只是掩盖了潜在的敌意和被动的攻击性。通过这种方式，友善可以作为极权主义的工具，通过和蔼可亲来掩盖专制领导人的残酷意图，从而掩盖他们的真实意图。即使在美国，这种极权主义也以倒极权主义的形式出现，以沃林为代表，在那里民主存在，没有积极的公民参与。倒置极权主义的特点是乐观主义和新自由主义的友善，统治阶级可以通过这种态度向人民保证，在缓和阶级冲突的同时一切都会好起来。善良先于新自由主义，事实上，自从杰克逊时代出现以来，就一直在努力维持阶级分层。善良通过提供社会平等来弥补经济平等的缺失；尊重服务人员被视为光荣。善良是贵族义务的一种形式，或者是特权人士对特权较少的人慷慨解囊的一种方式。善良也可以促进社会平等。Bramen 展示了奥巴马和英国首相戈登布朗之间的对比；奥巴马对唐宁街 10 号的一名保安很友好，与他握手，而首相没有承认保安。此外，奥巴马夫妇感谢每一位仆人的热情好客，表现贵族和社会公平。通过这种方式，善良会强制执行平等主义和贵族义务。阶级分层社会中的个人通过善意来对抗阶级差异，这弥补了阶级不平等，而没有采取任何措施消除不平等。正如 Bramen 所说，“访问的经济学被访问的姿态所取代”。新自由主义使个人非政治化和私有化，但布拉门认为，将个人重新政治化可以通过恢复个人之间的政治并将人际关系与更大的公共领域联系起来以激发更大的社会团结来挑战新自由主义。与新自由主义的善良不同，非市场友善定义了不是为了利润而是为了社会福祉而存在的关系和行为。在特朗普选举以来的社会运动中，这种特殊形式的非市场艺术术人已被利用来对抗仇恨。例如，Lady Gaga 发推文“为善良站起来”，妇女大游行的标语上写着“让美国再次善良”。非市场友善更像是希望而不是乐观；乐观是保守的，维持现状，而希望则更加不确定，让我们可以想象其他不以新自由主义为中心的社会政治结构。教皇弗朗西斯通过他的团结愿景体现了希望，这需要面对面的人际关系。赫尔之家的简亚当斯旨在将精英和移民带到同一个家中，以促进这种面对面的团结。然而，当铂尔曼公司的所有者乔治·普尔曼拒绝妥协时，这在铂尔曼罢工期间破裂了。这次失败表明，友善有时不是一种富有成效的策略；它依赖于说服精英为了友善而做正确的事情。在某些情况下，消除阶级等级和奴隶制等压迫性制度的唯一方法是公民不服从和不友善。在压迫性的情况下，可以利用善良通过降低其他人的优先权来使被压迫者留在他们的位置上 废除阶级等级制度和奴隶制等压迫性制度的唯一方法是通过公民不服从和不友善。在压迫性的情况下，可以利用善良通过降低其他人的优先权来使被压迫者留在他们的位置上 瓦解阶级等级制度和奴隶制等压迫性制度的唯一方法是通过公民不服从和不友善。在压迫性的情况下，可以利用善良通过降低其他人的优先权来使被压迫者留在他们的位置上