Critique and Resistance in a Neoliberal Age: Towards a Narrative of Emancipation PDF
Preview Critique and Resistance in a Neoliberal Age: Towards a Narrative of Emancipation
CRITIQUE AND RESISTANCE IN A NEOLIBERAL AGE Towards a Narrative of Emancipation CHARLES MASQUELIER Critique and Resistance in a Neoliberal Age Charles Masquelier Critique and Resistance in a Neoliberal Age Towards a Narrative of Emancipation Charles Masquelier University of Exeter Exeter, Surrey, United Kingdom ISBN 978-1-137-40193-9 ISBN 978-1-137-40194-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-40194-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016955810 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans- mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom To my friend, Luke Martell Acknowledgements I wish to dedicate this book to my friend Luke Martell, whose unfaltering struggle against social injustice has been, and remains, an immense source of inspiration. It was also under Luke’s mandate as head of the Sociology Department at the University of Sussex that I was first given the oppor- tunity to teach Sociology. I would therefore also like to thank him for making such an important contribution to my career as a sociologist. I would also like to thank my friend and ex-Sussex comrade, Matt Dawson, whose moral support has significantly helped me complete this manuscript. Matt also very kindly provided comments on a draft of this manuscript, for which I am especially grateful. Many thanks also go to my Surrey colleague and friend, Paul Stoneman, with whom I had the pleasure to exchange ideas on many themes and issues covered in the book. But none of this work would have been possible without the continu- ous and invaluable support of my friends Anna-Mari and David, Bethany, Clément, Dave, Katherine, Monica and Jasper, the Serruys family and Suzie. Many thanks to you all for being there for me and allowing me not to succumb to the strain of the state of pronounced anomie induced by Berkshire life. vii Contents 1 I ntroduction 1 Defining Neoliberalism 4 The Core Functions of Emancipatory Critique 6 Defetishizing Socia l Reality 7 Exploring the Mechanisms of Domination 8 Diagnosing the Nature of, and Prospects for, Resistance 10 Structure of the Book 11 Part I Neoliberal Processes 15 2 I ntroduction of Part I 17 3 Financialization 19 The Core Features of Financialization 20 Financialization and the Socio-Economic Structure 21 On the Financialization of Culture 25 Financialization and the “Inflation of Culture” 27 ix x Contents 4 F lexibilization 33 Flexibilization as Economic Process 35 From Flexibilization to Precarization 38 On the Cultural Dimension of Flexibilization 39 Defetishizing Flexibility 43 5 P ersonal Responsibilization 47 Personal Responsibilization and the Neoliberal State 48 Explaining the Rise of the “Entrepreneurial Self” 50 Bringing Neoliberalism Back in the Analysis 53 Ideology and Personal Responsibilization 55 6 Privatization 61 From Economic Process to Cultural Force 61 Privatization and the New Cultural “Condition” 64 Privatization and Ideology 68 7 Th e Neoliberalization of Nature 73 Social Theory and Nature: Some Preliminary Considerations 73 Neoliberal Processes and Nature 75 More Than a Mere Reorganization of Nature 77 8 C onclusion of Part I 81 Part II Domination 85 9 I ntroduction of Part II 87 10 Probing Neoliberal Domination 91 Class Domination 91 Race, Gender and Domination 94 Conten ts xi Exploring the Links Between Economic and Cultural Domination 97 Environmental Domination and the Four Neoliberal Processes 104 Linking Social and Environmental Domination: Conceptual Premises 108 11 Conceptualizing Neoliberal Domination 111 Economic Facts, Economic Power and Political Power 112 The Moral Authority of Neoliberal Economic Facts 118 Ideology and Economic Facts: Some Preliminary Considerations 120 Economic Facts and Symbolic Domination 122 Social, Environmental and Symbolic Domination 128 12 Modernization and the Neoliberal Condition 133 The Problem with Self-Adjustment 135 The Transmutation of Values and De-modernization 138 The Transmutation of Values Illustrated 141 13 C onclusion of Part II 145 Part III Resistance 147 14 I ntroduction of Part III 149 15 M aking Sense of Contemporary Social Movements 151 The Movements in Context 151 The Movements and the Neoliberal Regime of Symbolic Domination 153 Imagining a World Beyond Economic Rationality 155 xii Contents 16 Conceptualizing Resistance 161 The “Double Movement” Thesis and Symbolic Domination 161 On the Interplay of the Economy and Culture in Resistance 166 Nature and the Conceptualization of Resistance 174 17 On the Agent of Resistance 179 An Agent in Conceptual Evolution 180 The Subject as “Collective Will” 185 Leaving Anthropocentrism Behind, but Not Emancipation 190 18 C onclusion of Part III 195 Part IV Emancipation 197 19 I ntroduction of Part IV 199 20 E mancipatory Political Action Reimagined 201 Defining Emancipation 201 The Rise of Individualization and Apparent Demise of Emancipatory Action 203 New Prospects for Emancipatory Political Action 205 Identity-Political and Emancipatory Action: Bridging the Divide 207 21 Narrative Identity and Emancipation 211 The Features and Centrality of Ontological Narratives 212 Towards First-Person Plural Narratives 214 Nature and First-Person Plural Ontological Narratives 216 Premises for a Narrative of Emancipation 218 22 Emancipatory Strategy 223 On the Emancipatory Potential of the Ethos of “the Commons” 224
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