/128/ BACKLASCH! ft. Anna Khachiyan

On culturally conservative critics of capitalism. 

Neoliberalism’s fragmentary and atomising tendencies have gone too far. In response, some right-wingers have turned against the market. At the same time, there’s a (marginal) tendency on the left turning against cultural liberalism. Are we witnessing a major political realignment underway? What is the substance of these "culturally conservative" critiques, and do they offer anything new, beyond what people like Christopher Lasch advanced decades ago?  

Readings:

• The new intellectuals of the American right, Nick Burns, New Statesman
• The Problem of Hyper Liberalism, John Gray, The TLS
• The Real Class War, Julius Krein, American Affairs
• Socialism in One Country, David Runciman, LRB (on Maurice Glasman & Blue Labour)
• The idea that the British working class is socially conservative is a nonsense, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
• Zero to One, Peter Thiel (pdf)
• The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Daniel Bell (pdf)