Radical Utopianism and Cultural Studies: On Refusing to Be Realistic

Description

In Radical Utopianism and Cultural Studies , John Storey looks at the concept of utopianism from a cultural studies perspective and argues that radical utopianism can awaken the political promise of cultural studies. Between the Preface and the Postscript , there are seven chapters that explore different aspects of radical utopianism. The book begins with a definition of what radical utopianism means, with its productive combination of defamiliarization and desire. From there, it considers Thomas More’s invention of the concept of utopia with its double articulation of what is and what could be , Herbert Marcuse’s utopian rereading of Sigmund Freud’s concept of repression, Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers, the Paris Commune, and the Haight-Ashbury counterculture. In the final chapter, Storey examines two versions of utopian capitalism: retro and post. Although the main focus here is on Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign and Paul Mason’s recent bestseller Postcapitalism, the chaper begins with a brief discussion of Karl Marx on capitalism. Each chapter, in a different way, argues that radical utopianism defamiliarizes the manufactured naturalness of the here and now, making it conceivable to believe that another world is possible. This book provides an ideal introduction to utopianism for students of cultural studies as well as students within a number of related disciplines such as sociology, literature, history, politics, and media studies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Preface: cultural studies and utopian desire 1 Radical utopianism: defamiliarization and desire Radical utopianism and complicity Power and the social construction of reality Desire Reality and the impossible Making human nature historical What desire lacks A radical unfolding Notes 2 The happy place that exists nowhere The invention of radical utopian reading Utopia: a brief history of a multi-accentual sign Notes 3 Herbert Marcuse and the great refusal Freud and repression Freud made historical Fantasy, art, and radical utopianism Notes 4 Gerrard Winstanley and the law of righteousness Revolution within the revolution Winstanley’s Christianity Digging for the future Attacking the future The world turned upside down An enabling dream Notes 5 The Paris Commune: storming heaven The revolution of 18 March The work of the Commune The civil war The future against the past Notes 6 The chimes of freedom flashing: the Haight-Ashbury counterculture Lysergic acid diethylamide 25 and the doors of perception The psychedelic counterculture: a union of love and activism From hippie to free American The summer of love: resistance to incorporation Notes 7 Utopian capitalism: retro and post Marx’s capitalism Utopian socialism revisited Utopian nostalgia: making America great again Finding hope in dystopia Notes Postscript: making hope and history rhyme References Index