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and : Two Perspectives on Critical Theory
Abstract
Paleoconservatives developed the Frankfurt School conspiracy to frame liberal or progressive politics as foreign to the American way of life. The Cathedral, on the other hand, is a term to refer to the expansive institutional complex that produces and regulates public opinion to ensure the perpetuation of the “progressive” status quo. Although both movements have shaped the alt-right worldview, paleoconservatives and neoreactionaries represent incompatible ideologies. Their distinctive ideological standpoints result in two markedly different explanations for existence and practice of critical theory. The Frankfurt School conspiracy developed slowly over the past three decades, and this chapter examines four of the most influential articulations of this theory. Subsequently, the chapter turns to the concept of the Cathedral to investigate how the neoreactionary movement’s rationalization of critical theory resembles and contrasts the paleoconservative myth of Cultural Marxism.
... In fact, the term refers to a set of right-wing conspiracy theories that accuse a group of German Marxist thinkers known as the Frankfurt School (and their followers) of infiltrating universities and other cultural institutions to spread the "ideologies" of multiculturalism, political correctness, and environmentalism. Although the history of Cultural Marxism as an idea is intricate and complex, it is often reduced to a relatively straightforward timeline that starts in 1990s America (Busbridge et al. 2020;Jamin 2018;Jay 2020;Mirrlees 2018;Neiwert 2019;Paternotte and Verloo 2021;Richardson 2015;Woods 2019a;2019b). In 1992, Michael J. Minnicino-an acolyte of the notorious cult leader Lyndon LaRouche-wrote an article that described the Frankfurt School as the "most important organizational component" of a conspiracy that was using political correctness to destroy Western Civilization (Minnicino 1992, 5). ...
... In fact, the term refers to a set of right-wing conspiracy theories that accuse a group of German Marxist thinkers known as the Frankfurt School (and their followers) of infiltrating universities and other cultural institutions to spread the "ideologies" of multiculturalism, political correctness, and environmentalism. Although the history of Cultural Marxism as an idea is intricate and complex, it is often reduced to a relatively straightforward timeline that starts in 1990s America (Busbridge et al. 2020;Jamin 2018;Jay 2020;Mirrlees 2018;Neiwert 2019;Paternotte and Verloo 2021;Richardson 2015;Woods 2019a;2019b). In 1992, Michael J. Minnicino-an acolyte of the notorious cult leader Lyndon LaRouche-wrote an article that described the Frankfurt School as the "most important organizational component" of a conspiracy that was using political correctness to destroy Western Civilization (Minnicino 1992, 5). ...
... Under the Bolsonaro administration, this civilizational mission often took the form of policies that aimed to tackle the alleged scourge of "Marxist" indoctrination in Brazilian schools and universities. In April 2019, the then-Education Minister Abraham Weintraub threatened to divert funding from sociology and philosophy university departments to disciplines such as engineering and medicine that would offer an "immediate return" to the taxpayer (Woods 2019b). Critics of this policy claimed that Weintraub sought to defund sociology and philosophy departments because he assumes that they are hotbeds for Marxismo Cultural. ...
... This chapter, then, adds to a growing body of work focused on the "mainstreaming" of previously "fringe" web spaces like 4chan as the source of a "neoreactionary" style of political discourse (Nagle, 2017;Wendling, 2018;Beran, 2019;Woods, 2019). 4chan and Breitbart represent two parts of the media ecosystem that are particularly interesting to study in the context of the polarized and increasingly extreme U.S. political landscape. ...
In this article, we trace a rising tide of criticality to highlight three waves in a sea of social entrepreneurship/social innovation (SE/SI) research. Our aim is to draw attention to counter, alternative and critical perspectives in the field and how 'dangerous' their co-option by right wing narratives is. We review what we believe to be three waves in the development of a critical research agenda undertaken by a cohort of academics who, in their loyalty to the field, have sought to unpick the underlying assumptions in the practice of, and academic reflection on, social innovation. We set out the early instrumentalist critique, in which the success and social utility of SE/SI is questioned. We secondly highlight a post-structuralist shift, in which hidden and unheard voices and perspectives are welcomed and celebrated. The third wave, for us, constitutes a dangerous threat to the SE/SI project, threatening to undermine and co-opt the first two waves, as has happened in other related fields of intellectual endeavour. We position this paper to not only engage with scholars who challenge the normative assumptions behind social innovation research, but also to draw attention to the entry of right-wing politics in post-modernist critical theory.
In the process of shifting far-right ideas from the fringes to the centre of the political spectrum, the alt-right has infiltrated online spaces to mainstream extremist ideas. As part of this process, female alt-right influencers have emerged within various popular social media platforms and fringe outlets, seeking to build credibility for the movement with new audiences. Contrary to previous assumptions about women as harmless adherents of far-right ideology, alt-right women are emerging as “organic intellectuals”, influential in the formation of everyday beliefs and principles in congruence with the tenets of far-right ideology. Their narratives strategically weave far-right ideological discourses, such as the imminent crisis of white identity, with topical matters on lifestyle and well-being. This article examines the rhetoric of online influencers as they shape an ideological space which is contributing to the normalization or mainstreaming of far-right ideas. In doing so, it addresses two questions: How do alt-right female influencers narrate a far-right identity? How do they mainstream white supremacist ideas online? Drawing on new empirical material from a series of far-right podcasts, this article demonstrates that alt-right women strategically construct a “liberated” female identity rooted in femininity, traditionalism and gender complementarity, and problematize feminism and women’s emancipation as constitutive of the crisis facing the white race. It further identifies the presence of an elaborate cultural narrative around white victimhood which alt-right influencers use to mainstream their ideology. To counter the perpetuation of far-right ideas in society, women’s participation in shaping far-right ideology should not remain unaddressed. This article sheds some light on how a small but highly visible group of influencers are actively working to promote a dangerous far-right ideology.
Recent research on homonationalism addresses the ideological and electoral combination of LGBTQ+ politics and radical-right populism. However, right-wing LGBTQ+ identities remain seemingly paradoxical, as right-wing Christianity-rooted conservatism is generally hostile to LGBTQ+ empowerment. Grounded in literature on populist radical right and its relationship with religion and sexuality, as well as social identity theory, we argue that right-wing LGBTQ+ people resolve identity tension by creating a positive group image. Analysing over 2,500 posts on a prominent (new/alt/populist) right-wing LGBTQ+ Reddit community, r/RightWingLGBT, we found right-wing LGBTQ+ users maintain a positive self-identity by positioning themselves against ‘degenerate, liberal, non-binary queers’, thus limiting themselves to narrow iterations of acceptable queerness which are congruent with hetero- and cis-normativity. Islam replaces Christianity as the primary anti-LGBTQ+ outgroup, which, alongside a normalisation and naturalisation of religious-rooted moral selves, helps to reconcile LGBTQ+ identities and right-wing populism and establish homonationalism as a bottom-up phenomenon.
Despite the contributions of intersectional approaches, the academic and political left is challenged by competing interests in class, gender, race, and other axes of inequality and power. The disconnect between research on political economy, on the one hand, and on culture and subjectivity, on the other, is stark in Latin American studies. In contrast, an emerging feature of the global radical right is the gathering of these dimensions in simultaneous attacks to different strands of progressive politics and scholarship. The enemy is defined in economic and cultural terms: thus, feminism is frequently referred to as an extension of communism while Marxism is understood as part of cultural conspiracies to destroy healthy families and normal lifestyles. We call this phenomenon right-wing intersectionality (RWI). Through a mixed-methods approach, the article explores how RWI manifests in 20 leading influencers, activists, and politicians. The research included the systematic content analysis of 30,858 tweets.
Background: This study empirically examines the multimodal discourses of far-right groups on mobile apps. Many fringe groups find Telegram a convenient platform to spread hate speech without the need to censor their content or fear being blocked from the platform.
Analysis: This study collected all the posts from 15 far-right Telegram channels. The data was analyzed using a mixed-method approach, including an examination of profile images, hashtags, mentions, and emojis that have been weaponized to assist in hate dissemination.
Conclusion and implications: The findings show that one major theme on Telegram revolves around white peoples’ perceived grievances and discussions on conservatism followed by the minorities as the problem.
p>Neste capítulo 13, que tem o mesmo nome da obra a que pertence, "Is there a text in this class?", Stanley Fish tenta demonstrar, a partir de um diálogo real mantido entre um colega de faculdade e urna aluna, que a apreensão dos significados de um texto qualquer depende não da pré-existência de significados determinados ligados ao texto, mas da inserção dos interlocutores dentro de um mesmo sistema interpretativo e de uma mesma comunidade interpretativa. Isso inclui as circunstancias, crenças e suposições que cercam a produção do texto. Noutros termos, a comunicação se dá dentro de situações que supõem uma estrutura de pressuposições e práticas relevantes com relação a objetivos e propósitos pré-existentes. O Autor tenta igualmente demonstrar como essa maneira de conceber a inteligibilidade dos textos não conduz, como temem os seus adversarios, nem ao solipsismo nem ao relativismo.</p
Critical race theory (CRT) first emerged as a counterlegal scholarship to the positivistand liberal legal discourse of civil rights. This scholarly tradition argues against the slow pace of racial reform in the United States. Critical race theory begins with the notion that racism is normal in American society. It departs from mainstream legal scholarship by sometimes employing storytelling. It critiques liberalism and argues that Whites have been the primary beneficiaries of civil rights legislation.Since schooling in the USA purports to prepare citizens, CRT looks at how citizenship and race might interact. Critical race theory's usefulness in understanding education inequity is in its infancy. It requires a critique of some of the civil rights era's most cherished legal victories and educationalreform movements, such as multiculturalism. The paper concludes with words of caution about the use of CRT in education without a more thorough analysis of the legal literature upon which it is based.
The foregoing quip captures a realization that came to the young Reinhold Niebuhr in the 192os and that turned the liberal Christian pastor away from pacifism and toward a more realist ethic of politics. From then until his death in 1971, Niebuhr was to remain always a liberal Christian of realist bent. He was a liberal Christian in his concentration on the law of love as the only absolute and in his rejection of Christian fundamentalism, biblical literalism, and the consequent clash with science. He was a political realist, and rose to national prominence as such in the 1930S and 1940s, in his dismissal of pragmatic pacifism and his advocacy of American responsibility to use force in opposing the Nazi and Soviet threats to the world. He was famous particularly for his sharp attacks on those who failed to see the limits on morality in politics. Yet this realism was but one strand of Niebuhr's dualist approach to politics, the other being his Christian idealism.
Women started deserting subjects like history and English decades ago.
Genealogy "opposes itself to the search for "origins"".
"The development of humanity is a series of interpretations. The role of genealogy is to record its history: the history of morals, ideals, and metaphysical concepts, the history of the concept of liberty or the ascetic life".
"Among the philosophers idiosyncrasies is a complete denial of the body".
"Where religions once demanded the sacrifice of bodies, knowledge now calls for experimentation on ourselves, calls us to the sacrifice of the subject of knowledge. The desire for knowledge has been transformed among us into a passion which fears no sacrifice, which fears nothing but its own extinction. It may be that mankind will eventually perish from this passion for knowledge. If not through passion, than through weakness."
In this article I study the representation of identity in the literary traditions of Acadia and Aztlán, arguing in favour of their mutual belonging to Latin America, and that the struggle to exercise Latin independence in the midst of an Anglophone-dominated world leads to parallel visions of their respective pasts, and futures. Specifically, I examine how both cultures rewrite the pre-colonial past as eutopian (a happy space), whereas they view the post-colonial future as dystopian (ill-fated): a deployment of utopian literature's critical force that is interpreted as a strategic response to marginalization. The objective of the study is two-fold. First, based on a comparative and contrastive analysis of representative texts, it is my contention that, in addition to more obvious Latin commonalities, there is a shared Latin identity crisis that unites these two otherwise disparate spaces. Second, the article illustrates how the shift from utopian to dystopian representation in Acadian and Chicano writing has emerged from the recent collapse of their respective independence movements under the weight of globalization.
There are pass-words beneath order-words. Words that pass, words that are components of passage, whereas order-words mark stoppages or organized, stratified compositions. A single thing or word undoubtedly has this twofold nature: It is necessary to extract the one from the other – to transform the compositions of order into components of passage. There are pass-words beneath order-words, laps beneath lapses, ‘cat-licks’ beneath Catholics – Joy(ce) beneath shame, or James. The free energy of linguistic production can be seen to emerge, with the help of a Deleuzian logic, beneath the pattern of solidified representation. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's ‘schizoanalytic’ assemblages in A Thousand Plateaus provide novel, erring rather than deferring, inroads into James Joyce's linguistic fissions – nomadic wanderings across the plateaus, whether hills or boglands, of writing and reading. The concept of ‘plateau’, borrowed from Gregory Bateson by Deleuze and Guattari, is defined (though again the word should ideally be submitted to criticism and replacement) as being ‘always in the middle’, and, in connection with the way Bateson originally used it, as ‘a continuous, self-vibrating region of intensities whose development avoids any orientation toward a culmination point or external end’. The explicit philosophy of their book, they claim, resists the ‘order-word’ of a chapter-based structure, to which it prefers a collection of ‘plateaus’: For example, a book composed of chapters has culmination and termination points. What takes place in a book composed instead of plateaus that communicate with one another across microfissures, as in a brain? We call a ‘plateau’ any multiplicity connected to other multiplicities by superficial underground stems in such a way as to form or extend a rhizome. We are writing this book as a rhizome. © Cambridge University Press 2003 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.
In this article Michel Foucault’s method of writing a “history of the present” is explained, together with its critical objectives and its difference from conventional historiography. Foucault’s shift from a style of historical research and analysis conceived as “archaeology” to one understood as “genealogy” is also discussed, showing how the history of the present deploys genealogical inquiry and the uncovering of hidden conflicts and contexts as a means of re-valuing the value of contemporary phenomena. The article highlights the critical observations of present-day phenomena from which a history of the present begins, paying particular attention to Foucault’s concept of “dispositif” and his method of problematization. Foucault’s analyses of Bentham’s Panopticon, of the disciplinary sources of the modern prison, and of the technology of confession are discussed by way of illustration. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.
The development of Joycean studies into a respected and very large subdiscipline of modernist studies can be traced to the work of several important scholars. Among those who did the most to document Joyce's work, Karen Lawrence can easily be considered one of that elite cadre. A retrospective of decades of work on Joyce, this collection includes published journal articles, book chapters, and selections from her best known work (all updated and revised), along with one new essay. Featuring engaging close readings of such Joyce works as Dubliners and Ulysses, it will be a welcome addition to any serious Joycean's library and will prove extremely useful to new generations of Joyce critics looking to build on Lawrence's expansive scholarship. Both readable and lively, this work may inspire a lifetime of reading, re-reading, and teaching Joyce.
From the theory of "deliberative democracy" to the politics of the "third way," the present Zeitgeist is characterised by an attempt to negate the inherently conflictual nature of democratic politics. Political thought and practice are stifled by a misconceived search fro consensus and the promotion of a bland social unanimity which, as Chantal Mouffe shows, far from being the sign of progress, constitute a serious threat for democratic institutions. Indeed, in many countries this 'consensus of the centre' is providing a platform for the growth of populist right-wing parties which, by presenting themselves as the only 'anti-establishment' forces, are trying to occupy the terrain of contestation deserted by the left. Taking issue with the work of John Rawls and Jurgen Habermas on one side, and with the tenets of the third way as practised by Tony Blair and theorised by Anthony Giddens on the other, Mouffe brings to the fore the paradoxical nature of modern liberal democracy. Against those who affirm that, with the demise of the left/right divide, antagonism has been eliminated from contemporary post-industrial societies and that an all-inclusive politics has become possible, she argues that the category of the 'adversary' plays a central role in the very dynamics of modern democracy. Drawing on the work of Wittgenstein and Derrida, and engaging with the provocative theses of Carl Schmitt, she proposes a new understanding of democracy in terms of 'agonistic pluralism' which acknowledges the ineradicability of antagonism and the impossibility of a final resolution of conflicts.
It had been around a long time before the Radical Right discovered it-and its targets have ranged from "the in-ternational bankers" to Masons, J esu-its, and munitions makers. A merican politics has often been an arena for "angry minds: In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exagger-ation, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression "paranoid style" I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with pro-foundly disturbed minds. It is the use of par-anoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant. Of course this term is pejorative, and it is meant to be; the paranoid style has a greater affinity for bad causes than good. But nothing really prevents a sound program or demand from being advocated in the paranoid style. Style has more to do with the way in which ideas are believed and advocated than with the truth or falsity of their content. I am interested here in getting at our political psychology through our political rhetoric. The paranoid style is an old and recurrent phenomenon in our public life which has been frequently linked with movements of suspicious discontent. Here is Senator McCarthy, speaking in June 1951 about the parlous situation of the United States: How can we account for our present situ-ation unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy so black that, when it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men:' ... What can be made of this unbroken series of decisions and acts con-tributing to the strategy of defeat? They cannot be attributed to incompetence .... The laws of probability would dictate that part of ... [the] decisions would serve the coun-try's interest.
Sydney Owenson wrote The Wild Irish Girl hoping to effect in reality a union between Britain and Ireland that was already irrevocably enshrined in law. The passage of the Union in 1801 was itself marked by a discourse of national marriage between Britain and Ireland, with Britain the groom and Ireland the bride, revealing the Union to have shared almost all the characteristics of the classic marriage contract. It is this discursive context that shapes Owenson's text and is responsible for the failure of the text's desired resolution, an allegorical marriage between Britain and Ireland.
Published a few years before Derrick Bell's death, The Derrick Bell Reader (NYU Press 2005) contains excerpts of 63 works by or about the much-loved scholar, including an unpublished love poem, a memo to the Harvard law faculty urging the hiring of a black female professor, and Bell's letter of resignation. Following is the book's introduction summarizing Bell's life, career, and thought.
Scholars tend to agree that American politics has become polarized along partisan and ideological lines, yet the causes of polarization are in much dispute. The author argues that polarization and the culture wars are a consequence, in part, of the changing nature of white identity after the civil rights movement. The transformation of whiteness from a form of social standing to a norm produced ressentiment among whites, which Republican strategists mobilized by depicting Democrats as the party of intellectual snobs and undeserving rabble and the GOP as the party of the virtuous middle. Normalizing this middle and the snobs as white polarized whites along partisan and ideological lines, creating an incentive to win votes by appealing to hot-button cultural issues such as welfare, abortion, and gay marriage.
This review examines current anthropological literature concerned with migration and other forms of population movement, and with the movement of information, symbols, capital, and commodities in global and transnational spaces. Special attention is given to the significance of contemporary increases in the volume and velocity of such flows for the dynamics of communities and for the identity of their members. Also examined are innovations in anthropological theory and forms of representation that are responses to such nonlocal contexts and influences.
Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic are completing a Tenth Anniversary Edition of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction for NYU Press. This best-selling primer explains the movement's organizational history, major themes, central figures, and likely future. The new edition contains material on developments that have taken place over the past decade, including the rapid growth in the Latino population, nativism against that group, the election of the nation's first black president, and the advent of right-wing populism in the form of the Tea Party Movement. The volume will be available in paperback in early 2011.
In this revised and updated edition of what Insight magazine recently called "the standard work" on the history of post-World War II American Conservatism, Nash shows how a diverse group of men became an effective intellectual force in American life. What They're Saying... "The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, since 1945 remains since its publication in 1976 the most comprehensive treatment." ââ¬â Choice "Thorough and scholarly, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, since 1945 is a masterpiece of orchestration, skillfully handling a huge literature, drawing on historical events and the conservative thinkersââ¬â¢ personalitiesââ¬Â¦" ââ¬â The Social Critic "Nash's seminal book will remind todayââ¬â¢s hotheads that the modern conservative movement was made possible by a coalition of traditionalists and libertarians with enough common goals to get along splendidly. Is the corrupt liberal state not enough to keep this unity intact?" ââ¬â The American Spectator "As always, [Nash's] treatment is evenly balanced and scrupulously fair. Conservatives of all persuasions can be grateful to have George Nash as their historian." ââ¬â First Things "Today, it is the single best source of information on the intellectuals who built modern American conservatism." ââ¬â Amazon.com, Expert Editorââ¬â¢s Recommended Book
Read the letter Obama is sending to Americans worried about Trump in full
- Emily Shugerman
Emily Shugerman, "Read the letter Obama is sending to Americans worried about Trump in full," The Independent, November 4, 2017, https://
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/letterbarack-obama-sends-americans-worried-about-donald-trump-a8038056.
html
The Mandarin of the Hour-Michel Foucault
- George Steiner
George Steiner, "The Mandarin of the Hour-Michel Foucault," The
New York Times Book Review, February 28, 1971, http://www.nytimes.
com/books/00/12/17/specials/foucault-order.html
The New York Times Opinion Section
- David Brooks
David Brooks, "America: The Redeemer Nation," The New York Times
Opinion Section, November 23, 2017, https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/11/23/opinion/america-the-redeemer-nation.html.
Accessed 2 Jan. 2018.
- Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction, trans.
Robert Hurley (New York: Vintage, 1990), 79.
Foucault, Structuralism and the Ends of History
A. Megill, "Foucault, Structuralism and the Ends of History." Journal of
Modern History 51, no. 3 (1979): 492.
- Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges, "Trump is the Symptom, not the Disease," Truthdig, May
15, 2017, https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-is-the-symptomnot-the-disease
State of the Union Address
- Trump
Trump, "State of the Union Address."
You are right to be concerned
- Edward Isaac Dovere
Edward Isaac Dovere, "Obama: 'You are right to be concerned,'" Politico,
June 29, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/barackobama-advice-to-democrats-685940