The Value Form, Regulation, and the Wounds of Neoliberalism

• In Event: Critical Theory in/as Political Science: Past, Present, Future

Abstract

Wendy Brown’s incisive writings on neoliberalism and populism lack an integrating social theory linking them to her critique of identity politics and sidestepping her reification of neoliberal reason as a causal force. The Marxist value form instead grounds a theory of capital accumulation and intersubjective recognition as interpenetrated dimensions of social reproduction The capitalist state manages tension between them by separating the legal discourses that regulate accumulation and constitute solidarity, making them appear to occur in separate social domains. This drives counter-democratic processes—regulatory law indifferent to recognition generates structural domination, is insulated from democratic responsiveness, and is neglected by discourses of political solidarity. In the United States, this now occurs through neoliberalism. Regulatory discourses have allowed human capital to fail and de-democratized institutions. Discourses of recognition have yielded culture wars deflected from economic considerations. Contra Brown, authoritarian populism is not an accidental byproduct of neoliberalism, but intrinsic to its politics.

Author

• David Lebow, University of Chicago