From Manhood to Neoliberalism: Critical Aporias and the Radical Democratic Imaginary in Wendy Brown's Political Theory

Abstract

Wendy Brown's critical assessment of neoliberalism in the 21st century serves as an explanatory model for our current global crisis. Through relentless economization and emphasis on private liberty rather than public good, neoliberalism has degraded and mocked democratic consciousness, unleashing populism and authoritarianism as legitimate political forms. Her genealogy makes this abundantly clear. To uncover a broader trajectory of thought, I couple this genealogy with her early critique of masculinity in Western political theory. By historicizing her contemporary work through her early theory, we come to understand the importance of the radical democratic imaginary for framing political opposition.