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Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics

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This is an interesting, albeit rather academic, book. Jodi Dean herself refers frequently to the 'academic and typing left' and this is presumably her target audience. Largely based on Lacan, Marx, Lacanian Marxism and, inevitably, Slavoj Zizek, she divides the book into six chapters: Technology, Free Trade, Democracy, Resolve, Ethics and Certainty. At the end, unlike many left commentators, she does not feel obliged to finish on an optimistic note, even given the current travails of global capitalism, and this adds to the credibility of the work.

Saying all that, some chapters are mainly discussions and critiques of particular thinkers. So, the chapter on democracy is largely a critique of Gutman and Thompson's ideas on 'deliberative democracy', while the chapter on Ethics engages with the works of Judith Butler. All well and good if you are familiar with these ideas, but pretty heavy going otherwise.

Still, there are some interesting ideas here. Starting with Technology, she outlines the concept of 'Communicative Capitalism':

'The proliferation, distribution, acceleration, and intensification of communicative access and opportunity result in a deadlocked democracy incapable of serving as a form for political change. I refer to this democracy that talks without responding as communicative capitalism.' (P22)

It appears that there is intensive debate happening all the time - blogs, web sites, e-mails etc. etc. etc. but no-one is actually debating, everyone is simply talking but not responding. In the end, these isolated individuals (themselves a result of the extreme individualism of neoliberalism) may be ignored. In the lead up to the invasion of Iraq:

'Bush acknowledged the massive worldwide demonstrations...He even reiterated the fact that a message was out there: the protesters had a right to express their opinions. [But] He didn't treat the words and actions of the protesters as sending a message to him that he was in some sense obliged to answer. Rather, he acknowledged the existence of views different to his own.' (P20)

In other words, he took advantage of the prevailing 'post modernist' propensity for acceptance of multiple viewpoints and used it as an excuse to dismiss views not concurrent with his own. There is, as Dean says, 'a significant disconnect between politics circulating as content and official politics.' (P21)

In the chapter entitled Free Trade, Dean considers 'The Neoliberal Fantasy' and the all pervading sense that 'there is no alternative'. Much of her argument here is reminiscent of Thomas Frank's 'The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule' but also calls upon David Harvey, Foucault and Zizek (his re-working of Lacanian 'jouissance') amongst others. The breakdown of (self-)discipline and the imposition, in its place, of control is mirrored by the atomisation of communities and the role of evangelical Christianity in providing alternatives, supporting neoliberalism:

'[The churches]...attempt both to fill gaps produced through neoliberal capitalism (the financial insecurities brought about by job loss and the social insecurities occasioned by the absence of community) and to respond by repurposing the lessons of advertising, marketing and public relations. An element of the reassurance provided by many...is the promise of material abundance integrated into the spiritual message.' (P60)

And, coupled with this spiritual backing, neoliberalism promotes the fantasy that we are all winners. If you are not (yet) a winner, then the market is not yet fully free and so the system must be further strengthen/liberated.

This analysis is backed up with reference to Zizek's reading of Lacan and Lacan's concept of 'jouissance', including an interesting discussion of the 'decline of symbolic efficiency'. Dean suggests that this decline is linked to the move from a 'disciplinary society' to a 'society of control'. The breakdown of social institutions such as nuclear families, unions, schools, neighbourhoods means that no-one has a 'place' any more, no 'fixed' identity, and so control must be exerted from outside. Although dressed in psychoanalytic language, this does at times sound reminiscent of Critical Theory and, indeed, there are also references to Jurgen Habermass.

This breakdown is further explored, but from a rather different angle, in the final chapter 'Certainty'. This is mainly concerned with the proliferation of conspiracy theories; particularly those centred around 9/11. Dean analyses these with reference to various forms of discourse. Many of the conspiracy theories are based on a strange mixture of certainty and scepticism - certainty of their interpretation of the facts, scepticism and lack of belief in the 'official' story:

'This combination of certainty and scepticism takes the form of the discourse of the university. We saw in chapter 3 [Democracy] that in university discourse the facts speak for themselves. Experts claim objectivity even as they attempt to overlook the institutional power that supports their claims to expertise. Scientific socialism, the press, and economics are all instances of university discourse. Each emphasises facts...Purporting to let the facts speak for themselves, the 9/11 truth movement is structured in accordance with university discourse. Yet it lacks its authorising support...Accordingly, I view the movement for 9/11 truth as a clone of university discourse, a psychotic clone.' (P151)

It is an interesting, if rather arcane, approach. Overall, then, the book is a detailed and highly critical view of the failures of left discourse in the face of an all-triumphing neoliberalism. It is a largely academic text, requiring a fairly specialised level of knowledge on behalf of the reader. It is a challenging, thought-provoking but at times rather abstruse analysis, especially for the general reader (i.e. me.) Helpfully, though, there is an extensive bibliography. O.k. - you have been warned. :-)