In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Antidemocratic Politics in the West PDF
Preview In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Antidemocratic Politics in the West
In the Ruins of Neoliberalism TTHEE RRIISSEE OFF AANNTIDEEMMOOCCRRATTIC POOLLIITTIICCSS INN TTHHEE WWEESSTT Wendy Brown In the Ruins of Neoliberalism WELLEK LIBRARY LECTURES C The Wellek Library Lectures in Critical Theory are given annually at the University of California, Irvine, under the auspices of UCI C ritical Theory. The following lectures were given in May 2018. UCI Critical Theory James A. Steintrager, Director C For a complete list of titles, see page 249. In the Ruins of Neoliberalism THE RISE OF ANTIDEMOCRATIC POLITICS IN THE WEST WENDY BROWN Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup .columbia . edu Copyright © 2019 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Brown, Wendy, 1955– author. Title: In the ruins of neoliberalism : the rise of antidemocratic politics in the West / Wendy Brown. Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2019. | Series: The Wellek Library lectures | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018060444 | ISBN 9780231193849 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231193856 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231550536 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Democracy— Social aspects—W estern countries. | Neoliberalism—P olitical aspects— Western countries. | Right- wing extremists— Western countries. | Populism— Western countries. | Right and left (Political science)—W estern countries. | Political culture— Western countries. Classification: LCC JC423 .B83 2019 | DDC 306.209182/1—d c23 LC record available at https: //lccn .loc .gov /2018060444 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid- free paper. Printed in the United States of America Cover image: © Reuters/Lucas Jackson Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 Society Must Be Dismantled 23 2 Politics Must Be Dethroned 55 3 The Personal, Protected Sphere Must Be Extended 89 4 Speaking Wedding Cakes and Praying Pregnancy Centers: Religious Liberty and Free Speech in Neoliberal Jurisprudence 123 5 No Future for White Men: Nihilism, Fatalism, and Ressentiment 161 Notes 189 Index 229 Acknowledgments THIS BOOK emerged from reflections following the Novem- ber 2016 election in the United States. It culminated in the 2018 René Wellek Library Lectures at Irvine, Gauss Seminars in Criticism at Princeton, and Robert S. Stevens Lecture at Cor- nell Law School. I had planned other research and writing for this period, for which I received a Simon Guggenheim Fellow- ship and UC President’s Humanities Research Fellowship. I turned to the questions and analyses developed in these pages because it seemed irresponsible to do otherwise. I am deeply indebted to the two fellowship programs that supported the undertaking and to the institutions that hosted the lectures. Class of 1936 First Chair funds permitted me to employ two superb research assistants at Berkeley, William Callison and Brian Judge. In addition to their extensive help with research and manuscript preparation, both influenced my thinking with their own. William Callison’s deep knowledge of the ordolib- erals and subtle thinking about political rationality was espe- cially important in conceiving and revising chapter 2. He saved me from several gaffes and tutored me as we worked. Acknowledgments In addition to Brian and Will, Judith Butler, Michel Feher, Bonnie Honig, Steve Shiffrin, Quinn Slobodian, and Nelson Tebbe each offered excellent suggestions for improvement. The summer 2018 Lucerne Master Class permitted me to refine some of the ideas. Wendy Lochner, at Columbia University Press, was encour- aging, flexible and professional. Bud Bynack, copyeditor extraordinaire, and kind and funny as well, is a gift to writers and their readers. Saba Mahmood’s terminal illness accompanied much of the writing of this book. Helene Moglen died suddenly as I was completing it. Both were beloved friends. Both harbored irre- pressible ardor for the beauty and possibilities of this world and clear- eyed fury at its cruelties, ruses, and wrongs. May their spirits animate our future. The introduction and chapters 1, 2, and 5 draw on arguments first adumbrated in “Neoliberalism’s Frankenstein: Authori- tarian Freedom in Neoliberal ‘Democracies,’ ” Critical Times 1, no. 1 (2018), https://ctjournal.org/index.php/criticaltimes/artic le /view/12. Chapter 1 also draws from “Defending Society,” The Big Picture (series), Public Books, October 10, 2017, https://www .publicbooks.org/the-big-picture- defending- society/. viii In the Ruins of Neoliberalism
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