ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with four forms of power: the force of arms and the law, the manipulation of economic policy and subtler forms of subjection, the persuasion conducted most conspicuously by the mass media, and the institutional authority exercised by economic elites. The conservative assault on the labor-supported social welfare state—social security and other loosely woven safety nets—has paralleled the war on labor in the workplace, and although this assault is not singled out for elaboration, it is a vital part of the whole and references to it recur in the book. It appears that the "political ecology" of our society, and of some similar ones, is seriously out of balance, that predators have grown too big and their appetites too omnivorous, and that their weight threatens to tip the balance of nature in our political life.
