Neoliberalism claims modernization while actually arresting modernity
Evidence
At the same time, it’s clear that neoliberalism has in many ways arrested modernity. That’s part of the point of Militant Modernism: the rise of neoliberalism has seen a turn to “postmodern” cultural and political forms, a formal nostalgia that is manifested in the refurbishing of familiar modes. It’s not for nothing that Fredric Jameson calls postmodernism, with its culture of retrospection and pastiche, “the cultural logic of late capitalism”. Neoliberalism claims to be the only modernising force, but it’s increasingly clear that it is incapable of delivering modernity. The current crisis is a massive opportunity for the left to reclaim modernity for itself. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2240
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the Jameson pastiche thesis and Fisher’s broader capitalist-realism argument across the library. — connects to: Neoliberalism should be reframed as an interruption of egalitarian modernity — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2082; Neoliberalism exists to reverse modernity’s claims to self-determination — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 116; Modernization theory served as an ideological counter to revolutionary upheaval — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the…, 152 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Neoliberalism exists to reverse modernity’s claims to self-determination
#corroborates(0.88) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 116 - Neoliberal modernisation aimed to destroy non-market sources of social reproduction
#exemplifies(0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 354 - Ordoliberalism’s internal contradictions combined economic modernity with antimodern social ideas
#exemplifies(0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 506 - Neoliberalism replaced modernization as the Clinton-era imperial model
#expands(0.75) - Neoliberal structural adjustment replaced postwar modernization as imperial policy
#expands(0.75) - Modernity’s radical politics now aims at stasis, not progress
#corroborates(0.74) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 281 - Modernity names real novelties of capitalism even though it cannot explain them
#complicates(0.73) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 162 - Modernization theory served as an ideological counter to revolutionary upheaval
#expands(0.72) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 152