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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 23:2 (2024) ► pp.155–175

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Mass identifications and mythical violence

Neoliberal mechanisms of subjectivation in the crisis interregnum

ORCiD logo with link | University of Buenos Aires – CONICET
Published online: 2 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22029.pre
Abstract
Whoever intends to answer the question about how collective identities are articulated today in capitalist societies cannot ignore the task of conceptually and empirically articulating two differentiated issues: on the one hand, the anomic situations of disintegration, in which the individualizing logic of neoliberal ideology takes center stage; on the other, the emergence of new phenomena of social authoritarianism in different strata where the psycho-affective dynamics of community identifications become especially relevant. In this article I will analyze the mechanisms of communitarian subjectivation deployed by neoliberalism in the time of its crisis. For this purpose, I examine some oral narratives extracted from a qualitative study of Argentine society, in which the interlocutors thread hypotheses about issues of public significance such as social inequality, the role of the State in our crisis context and the rights of immigrants.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Systemic disintegration and social entropy
  • 3.“Theft of enjoyment”
  • 4.The mass of narcissists and the need for punishment
  • 5.Profits from cruelty
  • 6.Final words
  • Notes
  • References
References (40)
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Prestifilippo, Agustín Lucas
2024. Can Democratic “We” Be Thought? The Politics of Negativity in Nihilistic Times. Philosophies 9:2 ► pp. 52 ff. DOI logo
Prestifilippo, Agustín Lucas
2024. Perversions of Equality: Notes on Neoliberal Togetherness. Critical Horizons 25:4 ► pp. 294 ff. DOI logo

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