Does "a way of atomizing and undermining the public" mean...?

Does "a way of atomizing and undermining the public" mean "a way of separating/minimizing the public and undermining them (the public)"?

Context:

"If you care about other people, that’s now a very dangerous idea. If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That’s not going to happen if you care only about yourself. Maybe you can become rich, but you don’t care whether other people’s kids can go to school, or can afford food to eat, or things like that. In the United States, that’s called “libertarian” for some wild reason. I mean, it’s actually highly authoritarian, but that doctrine is extremely important for power systems as a way of atomizing and undermining the public."

Chomsky on class war in the United States[153]