I hope as this year rolls on you take on this topic more directly.
"Adorno, Marcuse and others shifted fully way from the base of Marxist theory, attempting to articulate instead a theory of social power divorced from class."
Their shift was unfortunate..."
Somewhere you recently noted that you have a new book coming out, I believe next Sept.,that is in some way related to this issue.
I am an advocate of bringing together the populist right and left together on certain issues (i.e. opposition to the war in Ukraine), and a future discussion on alienation, class and the modern expansion of bureaucratic control, I would find extremely clarifying and potentially politically useful.
An entire chapter of the book deals with the Frankfurt School's error in this matter, since it's very informative to the way the left now has also abandoned material reality for the sake of esoteric identity categories and "social," rather than economic, justice.
Another chapter deals with the matter of the populist "right" and "left," via Walter Benjamin's observations about mass politics. This is an excerpt of an early draft of that chapter: https://rhyd.substack.com/p/the-werewolf
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” From Dune by Frank Herbert, a character speaking of past history in the Dune fictional universe.
New paid subscriber here! I read Lyons’ essay and then saw your thoughts in my inbox. I really enjoy his writing and I am also grateful for your pointing out what he missed, re: conservative instances of the state of exception. I also need to read Giorgio Agamben’s book on the state of exception, and think about how it could apply to the Covid crises of the past few years...
I hope as this year rolls on you take on this topic more directly.
"Adorno, Marcuse and others shifted fully way from the base of Marxist theory, attempting to articulate instead a theory of social power divorced from class."
Their shift was unfortunate..."
Somewhere you recently noted that you have a new book coming out, I believe next Sept.,that is in some way related to this issue.
I am an advocate of bringing together the populist right and left together on certain issues (i.e. opposition to the war in Ukraine), and a future discussion on alienation, class and the modern expansion of bureaucratic control, I would find extremely clarifying and potentially politically useful.
An entire chapter of the book deals with the Frankfurt School's error in this matter, since it's very informative to the way the left now has also abandoned material reality for the sake of esoteric identity categories and "social," rather than economic, justice.
This is an excerpt of a very, very early draft of that chapter: https://rhyd.substack.com/p/open-manuscript-notes-5
Another chapter deals with the matter of the populist "right" and "left," via Walter Benjamin's observations about mass politics. This is an excerpt of an early draft of that chapter: https://rhyd.substack.com/p/the-werewolf
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” From Dune by Frank Herbert, a character speaking of past history in the Dune fictional universe.
New paid subscriber here! I read Lyons’ essay and then saw your thoughts in my inbox. I really enjoy his writing and I am also grateful for your pointing out what he missed, re: conservative instances of the state of exception. I also need to read Giorgio Agamben’s book on the state of exception, and think about how it could apply to the Covid crises of the past few years...
Thanks for the support, and thanks for the kind words! By the way, I haven't read it yet, but Agamben's essays and editorials on state control during the pandemic have been published and translated. Again, I've not yet read it but it might be really helpful for you: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Are-We-Now-Epidemic-dp-1912475359/dp/1912475359/ref=dp_ob_title_bk