When I was an undergrad, I was mesmerized by the Frankfurt Schools account of a stupefied advanced capitalist society, anesthetized by the suburbs and mass culture. Then I got involved in the labor movement -- not just with TAs, but with custodians, dining hall workers, electricians, and later hotel workers -- and came to distrust these accounts of mass narcolepsy. In part because they mistake the seeming sleep of a social order for a too easily achieved quiescence, in part because they overlook those ongoing moments of contestation that inspire some to act more forcefully and scare others into retreat. The forces of social order devote too many resources to coercion and intimidation, possess too large an armory of what Brecht called the instruments, for us to conclude that society is as pacified as we think it is. This is all a long windup to Jodi Deans post on the battle against fracking in upstate New York and what it means for political theory.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 22:20:32 +0000
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