Post-1968 literary theory abandoned solidarity with labor movements
Evidence
The notable achievement of ‘the children of ‘68’ is that they did not even intend to give rise to a political formation that might organize any fundamental solidarity with the two million workers who are currently unemployed in France. Debates about culture and literature on the Left no longer presume a labour movement as the ground on which they arise; ‘theory’ is now seen, by Graff among many others, as a ‘conversation’ among academic professionals. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 8
Categorization
- SEED: Angle: tracing when and why left literary theory decoupled from actual labor politics in France and the Anglophone academy.
- XREF: connects to: Poststructuralism’s piecemeal politics arose from dashed 1968 revolutionary hopes. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 347; Academic theory domesticated 1960s political dissent into textual culture — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 23
Related
- Academic theory domesticated 1960s political dissent into textual culture (similarity 0.83)
- American literary theory developed in isolation from revolutionary political history (similarity 0.81)
- Post-1968 Western radicalism abandoned belief in domestic socialist revolution (similarity 0.80)
- Literary theory after 1960 retained literary specialness while denying the world outside text (similarity 0.80)
- Poststructuralism’s piecemeal politics arose from dashed 1968 revolutionary hopes. (similarity 0.78)
- The events of 1968 actually launched anti-communism and a new consumer capitalism (similarity 0.78)