Neoliberalism generated desires that remain unsatisfied and could anchor left renewal

Evidence

It is crucial that a genuinely revitalized left confidently occupy the new political terrain I have (very provisionally) sketched here. Nothing is inherently political; politicization requires a political agent which can transform the taken-for-granted into the up-for-grabs. If neoliberalism triumphed by incorporating the desires of the post 68 working class, a new left could begin by building on the desires which neoliberalism has generated but which it has been unable to satisfy. For example, the left should argue that it can deliver what neoliberalism signally failed to do: a massive reduction of bureaucracy. What is needed is a new struggle over work and who controls it; an assertion of worker autonomy (as opposed to control by management) together with a rejection of certain kinds of labor (such as the excessive auditing which has become so central feature of work in post-Fordism). — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 163

Categorization

• QUESTION: Fisher’s premise that the left, not the right, can best sell massive bureaucratic reduction is counterintuitive and worth testing against how anti-bureaucracy sentiment actually flows politically.
• XREF: connects to: Internalized needs remain heteronomous products of dominant interests. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 115; Late capitalism collapses the distinction between desire and interest that duty once maintained — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 148; Neoliberalism won by absorbing sixties desires the left failed to address (+1 more)

Related

• Neoliberalism won by absorbing sixties desires the left failed to address (similarity 0.89)
• Capitalist realism’s depoliticising hegemony invited populist fervour to replace it (similarity 0.80)
• Neoliberalism succeeded by capturing workers’ desire to escape Fordist strictures (similarity 0.79)
• Neoliberalism’s focused conception of reform gave it competitive advantage over social liberalism (similarity 0.79)
• Neoliberal belief was partly driven by the libidinal pleasure of crushing the working class (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism won by absorbing sixties desires the left failed to address #corroborates (0.70)