Post-1960s millennialism freely blends traditions into conspiracist bricolage

Evidence

Improvisational millennialism, by contrast, has a much freer hand. It is by defi nition an act of bricolage, wherein disparate elements are drawn together in new combinations. An improvisational millenarian belief system might therefore draw simultaneously on Eastern and Western religions, New Age ideas and esotericism, and radical politics, without any sense that the resulting mélange contains incompatible elements. Such belief systems have become increasingly common since the 1960s, and freed as they are from the constraints of any single tradition, they may incorporate conspiracist motifs whatever their origin. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 110

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Bricolage’ as a distinct millennial style parallels Levi-Strauss’s structuralist bricolage concept — the term is doing tangible analytical work here. — connects to: Improvisational millennialism needs accessible motifs and weakened authority — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 1111; A major millenarian movement can flourish without conspiracy beliefs — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 104; Extreme postmodernism erases historical specificity into a millennia-old cultural constant — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 129 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Extreme postmodernism erases historical specificity into a millennia-old cultural constant #expands (0.85) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 129
• Nazi ideology deliberately operated on millennial time scales to justify extreme measures #corroborates (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2762
• Contemporary culture has naturalised retro-anachronism as its standard form #epitomizes (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2308
• Radically open, recomposable realities in culture mirror late capitalism’s care-destroying impermanence #expands (0.75) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 759
• Totalitarian movements justify present terror by reckoning in millennia rather than generations #qualifies (0.70)
• High and mass culture interpenetration predates postmodernism by decades #qualifies (0.70) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 570