tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125653241615635488.post2087286064710281175..comments2024-01-18T20:42:30.221+00:00Comments on Thinking to some purpose: A Postliberal Public?Will Haydockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00623145846257433457noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125653241615635488.post-73482061170682150292013-05-17T19:06:54.001+01:002013-05-17T19:06:54.001+01:00Thanks Will. I’m inclined to agree (as in the fir...Thanks Will. I’m inclined to agree (as in the first footnote): the time element of *post*liberalism can be exaggerated.<br /><br />I think this is part of a tendency by commentators to want to identify trends/activities/developments as specifically new. I’ve seen this in various contexts, and from a range of backgrounds (media, academics, politicians). ‘Binge’ drinking as new is one; the other I’ve always noticed is a tendency for historians of whatever period to identify the birth of ‘the state’ in their period, be it the 11th, 14th, 16th, 19th or 20th century.<br /><br />But I’ve a question, thinking not in terms of abstract analysis but more as a personal view or prescription (which is what I think people like Blond, Glasman and Goodhart are making): don’t times of austerity actually make the abstract rules even more important?Will Haydockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00623145846257433457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125653241615635488.post-3718486438593428472013-05-17T10:36:29.454+01:002013-05-17T10:36:29.454+01:00I'm not sure I see the term 'postliberal&#...I'm not sure I see the term 'postliberal' as a very useful one. Given liberalism involves abstraction and formalism, it has surely always invited versions of romantic, nationalist or aesthetic critiques. Anti-liberalism, maybe; but not sure that there is any identifiable moment when the shift into postliberalism occurs. <br /><br />Maybe the real issue here is liberalism versus some notion of democracy or populism. There is necessarily something anti-democratic about liberalism and neoliberalism. In the US, this is seen in the conservative cultural surge against the Supreme Court, post-Roe V Wade. And times of austerity make the maintenance of abstract formal rules harder to maintain, because political economy becomes more zero-sum. Hence specific claims start to be judged on their own, intrinsic terms, and less on formal terms. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com