Description
Book SynopsisA treatise against the 'common sense' of late capitalism
Trade Review'One of the most lucid and acute critiques of neoliberal culture to date' -- Jeremy Gilbert, Reader in Cultural Studies at the University of East London.
'Boldly confronts the disturbing trap of contemporary democracy: its promises of diversity and plurality are undone by capitalist enclosure. Those brave enough to acknowledge not just capitalism's idiocy but the way it makes idiots of us will be grateful for this provocative, unyielding, and immensely readable book' -- Jodi Dean, Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and author of Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies (2009).
'Describes how the spread of privatised stupidity, economic fanaticism and the cuts in education are provoking a rise of barbarianism and laying the foundations for a dictatorship of ignorance' -- Franco Berardi, author of The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy (2009).
'The best way to persuade people that "there is no alternative" is to isolate, divide and atomise them. This valuable book offers a systematic and wide-ranging study of the far-reaching privatisation and marketisation of modern life, and counters the ruthless exclusion of meaningful references to the public good' -- Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, UK.
Table of Contents1. Enclosing the World, or Idiotism
2. The Ideology of Idiotism
3. Idiotism and Economics
4. Idiotism and Politics
5. Idiotism and Culture
6. Opening the World, or Democracy
Bibliography
Notes
Index
