/128/ BACKLASCH! ft. Anna Khachiyan (Patreon)

On culturally conservative critics of capitalism. 

Neoliberalism’s fragmentary and atomising tendencies have gone too far. In response, some right-wingers have turned against the market. At the same time, there’s a (marginal) tendency on the left turning against cultural liberalism. Are we witnessing a major political realignment underway? What is the substance of these "culturally conservative" critiques, and do they offer anything new, beyond what people like Christopher Lasch advanced decades ago?  

Readings:

The new intellectuals of the American right, Nick Burns, New Statesman

The Problem of Hyper Liberalism, John Gray, The TLS

The Real Class War, Julius Krein, American Affairs

Socialism in One Country, David Runciman, LRB (on Maurice Glasman & Blue Labour)

The idea that the British working class is socially conservative is a nonsense, Kenan Malik, The Guardian

Zero to One, Peter Thiel (pdf)

The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Daniel Bell (pdf)