The Bank Teller and Other Essays on the Politics of Meaning

Book excerpt: A collection of provocative essays on politics, social meaning, and law from Critical Legal Studies scholar and magazine columnist Peter Gabel, The Bank Teller presents a unique and powerful analysis of the psychological and spiritual dimension of U.S. political culture and society. In this series of strikingly original essays, Gabel sheds new light on a wide range of subjects based on what he calls “the longing for mutual recognition,” including the meaning of American politics from 1960, health care, affirmative action, the SAT (abolish it!, Gabel declares), deadly job culture, and the spiritual dimension of public policy. He takes on the adversarial roles of the legal system, including a nationally publicized debate with Alan Dershowitz on the moral obligation of criminal defense lawyers, as well as the meaning of the Holocaust and the social psychology underlying the modern media. Passionate, insightful and profound, The Bank Teller fundamentally challenges our existing social institutions and presents a political strategy that invents new forms of working, friendship, and community. It was well reviewed and much discussed -- and in some quarters much disputed -- upon its print release in 2000, and has since been assigned to classes on politics, law, and religion.