Radical subjects after hegemony

Abstract

This article explores a contemporary problem pertaining to the progressive political projects of anti-racism, feminism, gay rights and green politics. It tackles the complex and conflicted situation whereby these once thoroughly oppositional projects now appear to occupy a hegemonic position, and suggests that this has paradoxically led to the demise of radical subject positions. I consider how progressive discourses have effectively become 'detached' from participatory social movements that once served as both their progenitors and guarantors, and address the problem of conceptual inertia, whereby discourses appropriated and modified by the political right and mainstream continue to signify an 'original' meaning, thus serving to bolster the moral legitimacy of their self-declared champions and defend them against critique. Rather than dismiss this mainstreaming as simply a betrayal, I stress that it describes a new terrain of political struggle that cannot be predicated on a nostalgia for radical subjects as we have historically tended to imagine them.

Are We Really Colour-blind? The Normalisation of Mass Female Incarceration

“…Within the context of social movements, British scholar Ben Pitcher’s (2011) argument regarding the rise of the New Left echoes Angela Davis’ sentiments. Davis (1997) explains how once distinctive activist groups, which could be easily identified by their position on racially structured power relationships, have forfeited their distinction under a race-blindness agenda.…”

“…Pitcher (2011) also explains that the discourses that may be thought of as the contemporary legacy of the historical Left are no longer radical in their stance. For example, Pitcher (2011) argues that antiracism movements have been weakened by dominant social actors' embrace of antiracism and cultural pluralism ideas (see also Andersen, 2005;Collins, 2013;Davis, 1997;Mohanty, 2013;Pitcher, 2011). The problem lies in the fact that when racial justice is construed as being synonymous with diversity (Burke, 2014), understanding race, class, and gender then becomes solely about a plurality of views and experiences as opposed to systems of power (Andersen, 2005).…”

“…Consequently, racial justice campaigns have been replaced with notions of cultural diversity, wherein the latter does not challenge power structures that engender racist practices (Andersen, 2005;Burke, 2014;Davis, 1997;Mohanty, 2013;Pitcher, 2011). Because notions of multiculturalism do not give precedence to specific cultural groups but considers them equally-despite having extremely diverse historical experiences with inhumane and immense injustices-solutions framed around "multiculturalism" will not excessively disturb or disrupt contemporary social structures and organization (Andersen, 2005;Wetherell & Potter, 1992).…”

“…As Bonilla-Silva (2006) points out, there is not a discussion of race without the acknowledgement that "racism" creates and maintains race because it is not a person's race or ethnic identity that hurts but rather racism. Also, under the guise of multiculturalism (Andersen, 2005;Burke, 2014;Pitcher, 2011), contemporary racism is embedded within a broader concern of social justices for all. This is evidenced by the "All Lives Matter" stance that emerged in opposition to the "Black Lives Matter" movement that developed to shed light on the excessive rates of police brutality African Americans experience in comparison to their White counterparts.…”

Guest Editorial

“…This issue picks up on themes that have appeared through the entire publishing history of Subjectivity as a journal, from the editorial in the first issue, through various essays that have appeared then exploring areas such as self-valorization and the common (Harrison, 2011), neoliberal subjectivity (Burkitt, 2008;Layton, 2010), austerity and anti-consumerism (Bramall 2011), contemporary media culture (Gill, 2008), radical subjectivity after hegemony (Pitcher, 2011), the entanglements between affect and technology (Clough, 2008), as well as many others that touch on related themes. It is not so much that the articles contained ask totally new questions, but rather that they approach the questions that underpin continued enquiry into the nature of subjectivity today from different angles and perhaps through that to see something that was not perceived before.…”