--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What they [ ruling elite] understand is…" description: "\"What they [ ruling elite] understand is that matters of desire, subjectivities, identities matter. And they take the cultural apparatuses that they con..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a0/henry-giroux-945_desire_what-they-ruling-elite-understand-is-tha_1362576.png" --- # What they \[ ruling elite\] understand is that matters of… ![“What they [ ruling elite] understand is that matters of desire, subjectivities, identities matter. And they take the cultural apparatuses that they control enormously, enormously, in an enormously important way.” quote by Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a0/henry-giroux-945_desire_what-they-ruling-elite-understand-is-tha_1362576.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a0/henry-giroux-945_desire_what-they-ruling-elite-understand-is-tha_1362576.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a0/henry-giroux-945_desire_what-they-ruling-elite-understand-is-tha_1362576.png) > “What they \[ ruling elite\] understand is that matters of desire, subjectivities, identities matter. And they take the cultural apparatuses that they control enormously, enormously, in an enormously important way.” [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The ruling elite manipulate cultural systems to shape desires and identities, reinforcing their power. **In simple terms:** Elites control culture to influence what people want and who they are. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge cultural manipulation. Themes power culture identity control desire Mood critical analytical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - political campaigns - media consumption - education curricula - advertising strategies Key Concepts hegemony social construction ideology Questions to Reflect On - How does media shape your desires? - What identities are imposed by dominant narratives? A Different Perspective Cultural influence can be subtle and resisted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Desire Subjectivities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire-subjectivities-4668488/) [Elite Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elite-understand-1398300/) [Elites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elites/) [Enormously Important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enormously-important-1893153/) [Identities Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identities-matter-4668489/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Ruling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruling/) [Ruling Elite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruling-elite-1787271/) [Subjectivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subjectivity/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [Look, in neoliberalism the ruling elite understand something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/look-in-neoliberalism-the-ruling-elite-understand-something/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Ruling elite have think tanks, they have research institutes, they've invaded universities, they've monopolized the cultural apparatuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/ruling-elite-have-think-tanks-they-have-research-institutes-they-ve/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [The elite cannot understand why President Trump is liked by so many Americans, nor why people flock to his rallies. 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That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/but-we-must-not-forget-the-effort-undertaken-by-the-ruling-elite-in/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) > [“THE FOUNDATIONAL BELIEF OF THE RULING ELITE IS THAT THEY were born to rule, while the vast majority of the populace is born to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-marrs/the-foundational-belief-of-the-ruling-elite-is-that-they-were-born-to/) [Jim Marrs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-marrs/) > [A monopoly on the means of communication may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of monopoly in the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/a-monopoly-on-the-means-of-communication-may-define-a-ruling-elite/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## More by Henry Giroux > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [As politics is disconnected from its ethical and material moorings, it becomes easier to punish and imprison young people than to educate them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/as-politics-is-disconnected-from-its-ethical-and-material-moorings-it/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [What must be addressed in the most immediate sense is the threat that the emerging police state in the United States poses not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/what-must-be-addressed-in-the-most-immediate-sense-is-the-threat-that/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Today's neoliberalism has a number of byproducts. We have massive forms of inequality developing because there are no longer any concessions. 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When that happens, not only are young people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/all-too-often-the-worst-thing-that-can-happen-to-the-young-is-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [The generation of youth in the early 21st century has no way of grasping if they will ever be free from the gnawing sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/the-generation-of-youth-in-the-early-21st-century-has-no-way-of/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [History remains an open horizon that cannot be dismissed through appeals to the end of history or end of ideology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/history-remains-an-open-horizon-that-cannot-be-dismissed-through/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [I mean, we're not talking about simply racism, we're taking about white supremacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/i-mean-we-re-not-talking-about-simply-racism-we-re-taking-about-white/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Historical memory is a potent weapon in fighting against the desert of organized forgetting and implies a rethinking of the role that artists, intellectuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/historical-memory-is-a-potent-weapon-in-fighting-against-the-desert/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [The fight for education and justice is inseparable from the struggle for economic equality, human dignity and security, and the challenge of developing American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/the-fight-for-education-and-justice-is-inseparable-from-the-struggle/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [If the ongoing struggles waged by young people are to matter, demonstrations and protests must give way to more sustainable organizations that develop alternative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/if-the-ongoing-struggles-waged-by-young-people-are-to-matter/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Many conservatives see higher education as a threat to their reactionary and corporate oriented interests and would like to defund higher education, privatize it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/many-conservatives-see-higher-education-as-a-threat-to-their/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Everyone is now a customer or client, and every relationship is ultimately judged in bottom-line, cost-effective terms. Freedom is no longer about equality, social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/everyone-is-now-a-customer-or-client-and-every-relationship-is/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) [Explore all 323 Henry Giroux quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) ## More Desire quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) [Ted Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-martinez/) > [Passion is what you need to be good, an unforgiving passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-easton/passion-is-what-you-need-to-be-good-an-unforgiving-passion/) [David Easton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-easton/) > [I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burns/i-want-the-municipality-to-be-a-helping-hand-to-the-man-with-a-desire/) [John Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burns/) > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“THE ESSENCE OF YOUR DESIRE IS A FEELING”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/the-essence-of-your-desire-is-a-feeling/) [Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/) > [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [In discovering books, you became free to explore the full range of human motives, desires, secrets, and lies. 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He could smell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emery-lee/from-the-devil-you-know-she-wanted-him-too-he-could-see-it-in-the/) [Emery Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emery-lee/) [Browse all 15,155 Desire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What they [ ruling elite] understand is that matters of desire, subjectivities, identities matter. 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