Meanderings Through the Politics of Everyday Life PDF
Preview Meanderings Through the Politics of Everyday Life
MEANDERINGS THROUGH THE POLITICS OF EVERYDAY LIFE Experiments/On the Political SeriesEditors: IainMackenzie,UniversityofKent and AmandaGiorgio,UMassAmherst This series reflects on how interdisciplinary and/or practice-led thought can create the conditionsforexperimentalthinkingaboutpoliticsandthepolitical.Whatifthedomain of thepolitical isnotwhat we usuallythink it is?Arethereways of thinking aboutthe nature of politics and the political that can take us beyond frameworks of conflict and cooperation?Thesequestionsderivefromacommitmenttotheideathatpoliticalthought has not yet exhausted its creative potential with regard to what constitutes the political domain. It is also motivated by the desire for political theory to become a genuinely creativediscipline,opentocollaborativeinterdisciplinaryeffortsininnovation.Moreover, ifourunderstandingofthepoliticalworldistokeeppacewithpoliticaleventsthenitis importantthatpoliticaltheoristsdonotsimplypresumethattheyexpressoneorotherof thesedominantmodelsofthepolitical;rathertheyshouldremainopentothepossibility thatexperimentsinpoliticsmaybehappening‘onthestreet’inwaysthatrequiretheorists tothinkdifferentlyaboutwhatismeantby‘thepolitical’. TitlesintheSeries ThePoliticalSpaceofArt:TheDardenneBrothers,AiWeiwei,BurialandArundhatiRoy, byBenoîtDilletandTaraPuri ComedyandCriticalThought:LaughterasResistance,editedbyIainMacKenzie,Fred Francis,andKristaBonelloRutterGiappone TheAestheticsofNecropolitics,editedbyNatashaLushetich Autós:Vulnerability,AgencyandBeyond,byRiccardoBaldissone MeanderingsthroughthePoliticsofEverydayLife,byRobertPorter MEANDERINGS THROUGH THE POLITICS OF EVERYDAY LIFE Robert Porter London • New York PublishedbyRowman&LittlefieldInternational,Ltd. UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet,LondonSE114AB www.rowmaninternational.com Rowman&LittlefieldInternational,Ltd.,isanaffiliateof Rowman&Littlefield 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706,USA WithadditionalofficesinBoulder,NewYork,Toronto(Canada),andLondon (UK) www.rowman.com Copyright©2018byRobertPorter Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby anyelectronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrieval systems,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewer whomayquotepassagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformation AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN:HB978-1-78660-874-1 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataAvailable ISBN:978-1-78660-580-1(cloth:alk.paper) ISBN:978-1-78660-581-8(pbk.:alk.paper) ISBN:978-1-78660-582-5(electronic) TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperfor PrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii 1 Introduction.Or,SomeDirectionsforYou,MyIdeal Reader... 1 Part1.TheJadedLecturerandaSeminaronCritique 7 Part2.TheConceptualSignificanceofEverydayLife 11 Part3.RetailPolitics 14 Part4.ShiftingRegisters 17 Part5.AftertheAestheticSeductionComesthe PhilosophicalGuilt 21 Part6.TheOldProblemofRecuperation 27 Part7.WileE.CoyoteandtheLogicofanAbsentPresent 34 Part8.TheJargonofIndebtedness 38 Part9.WelcometothePleasureDome 41 Part10.AJokeExplained...asaJag;Or,CredoQuia Absurdum 47 Part11.TheKeyThingIsthatWe’reattheBeginningof SomethingNew 51 Part12.We’reToldthatBusinessesHaveSouls,WhichIs SurelytheMostTerrifyingNewsintheWorld 61 Part13.‘You’reFired!’‘OK,GoFuckYourself!’ 65 Part14.TheAbsurdityofWorkingtoRule 71 Part15.ZombieWorkersandtheRiseandRiseofthe Futurist-Sophists 75 v vi CONTENTS Part16.OrgasmicPoliticalTheory,Events,andTheir RipplingEffects 85 Part17.TheDramaofPhilosophicalImperialism 94 Part18.ResistingthePhilosopher’sJargon 99 Conclusion.Or,EighteenStepstoaNewYou 111 Notes 121 Bibliography 131 Index 135 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS T hisisastrangelittlebook,anditisthankstoIainMackenzie’sintellec- tual generosity and openness that it is going to see the light of day. I’m absolutely delighted that this work will be part of the Rowman & Little- field series Experiments/On the Political, a series that I know will grow and develop in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways. Thanks to Dhara Snowden—senior commissioning editor for politics, international rela- tions, and security studies at Rowman & Littlefield International—for supporting the project through to publication. Thanks also to those who tookthetimetocarefullyreadthedraftmanuscript.Iwasreallyheartened and helped by the kind and pertinent things they said; such supportively criticalcommentsgavemetheconfidence,impetus,andfocusIneededto getmeovertheline. Thisisastrangelittlebook,writtenataratherstrangetimeinmylife. It simply would not have been possible without the love and support of my wife and best friend, Kerry-Ann. In addition to Kerry-Ann, I’d also like to dedicate this book to my daughters, Anna and Jessica. As we meander through our everyday lives together as a family, Anna, Jessica, andKerry-Annamazinglynevercompletelytireofmylaziness,stupidity, andgeneraluselessness,nevertireof‘checkingmyprivilege’forme(and there is a lot of privilege to check, as they would readily testify), never forget, and always forgive, the fact that, when all is said and done, I’m nothing more than a ‘dopey man’. What a privilege to be a husband and fathertothreesuchbeezerwomen! vii
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