Wacquant and Bourdieu

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PIERRE BOURDIEU AND LOIC WACQUANT

.a matterof a few years, n all the advancedsocieties,employers,internationalofficials, high-ranking civil servants,media ntellectualsand high-flying journalistshave all started o voice a strangeNewspeak.Its vocabulary,which seems o have sprung out of nowhere, s now on everyone'slips: 'globalization' and 'flexibility', 'governance'and 'employability', 'underclass'and 'exclusion', 'new economy' and 'zero tolerance', communitarianism'and'multiculturalism', not to mention heir so-calledpostmodern ousins, minority','ethnicity', 'identity', 'fragmentation',and so on. The diffusion of this newplanetaryvulgate -from which the terms 'capitalism', 'class', 'exploitation','domination' and inequality' are conspicuous y their absence, aving beenperemptorilydismissedunder he pretext hat they are obsoleteand non-pertinentis the result of a new type of imperialism. ts effects are all the more powerful and

pernicious n that t is promotednot only by the partisansof the neoliberalrevolution who, undercoverof 'modernization', ntend o remake he world bysweepingaway the social and economicconquests f a centuryof social.struggles,henceforthdepictedas so many archaisms nd obstacles o the emergentnew order,but also by cultural producers researchers, riters and artists)and eft-wingactivists, he vast majority of whom still think of themselves s progressives.Like ethnic or genderdomination,cultural imperialism s a form of symbolicviolence hat relies on a relationshipof constrained ommunicationo extortsubmission. n the case at hand, ts particularityconsists n universalizing heparticularismsbound up with a singular historical experience.Thus, ust as, n thenineteenth entury,a numberof so-calledphilosophicalquestions hat were debatedthroughoutEurope,suchas Spengler's hemeof 'decadence'or Dilthey'sdichotomy betweenexplanation nd understanding, riginated,as historianFritzRinger has demonstrated,n the historical predicaments nd conflicts specific o thepeculiar world of Germanuniversities, o today many opics directly ssued romthe particularitiesand particularismsof US societyand universitieshave beenimposedupon he whole planet under apparently ehistoricizedguises.Thesecommonplaces in the Aristotelian senseof notions or theseswith which one arguesbut over which there s no argument),heseundiscussed resuppositions f thediscussion we most of their power to convince o the prestigeof the placewhence hey emanate, nd to the fact that, circulating in continuous low fromBerlin to BuenosAires and from London o Lisbon, hey are everywhere

2 Radical Philosophy 105 IJanuary/Febru. ry 2001,


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powerfully relayedby supposedly eutralagencies anging from major nternationalorganizations the World Bank, nternationalMonetary Fund, EuropeanCom-missionand OECD),conservativehink-tanks the Manhattan nstitute in NewYork City, the Adam Smith nstitute in London, he FondationSaint-Simon nParis,and the DeutscheBank Fundation n Frankfurt) and philanthropicfoundations,o the schoolsof power (Science-Pon France, he London SchoolofEconomics n England,Harvard's KennedySchool of Governmentn America,etc.).

In addition o the automaticeffect of the internationalcirculation of ideas,whichtends,by its very logic, to conceal heir original conditions of prodqctionandsignification, he play of preliminary definitions and scholasticdeductions eplacesthe contingency f denegated ociologicalnecessitieswith the appearance f logicalnecessity nd tends o mask he historical oots of a whole setof questionsandnotions: he 'efficiency' of the (free) market, he need or the recognitionof(cultural) identities' or the celebratory eassertion f (individual) 'responsibility'.Thesewill be said to be philosophical,sociological,economicor political,dependingon the place and momentof reception.Thus 'planetarized',orglobalized n the strictly geographical enseof the term, by this uprooting and, atthe same ime,departicularized s a resultof the illusory break effectedby conceptualization,hesecommonplaces, hich theperpetualmedia repetitionhas gradually ransformedinto a universalcommonsense, ucceedn making usforget that, n many cases,they do nothing but express,in a truncatedandunrecognizableorm(including to thosewho arepromoting t), the complexand contested ealities of aparticular historical society,tacitly constituted nto the model and measure f all things: the American societyof the post-Fordist nd post-Keynesian ra, he world's only superpower ndsymbolic Mecca.This is a societycharacterized y the deliberatedismantlingofthe socialstateand the correlative hypertrophyof the penal state, he crushingoftrade unions and the dictatorshipof the 'shareholder-value' onceptionof the firm,and heir sociologicaleffects: he generalization f precariouswage abour andsocial nsecurity, urned nto the privileged engine of economicactivity.The fuzzy and muddydebateabout multiculturalism' is a paradigmaticexample.The term was recently mported nto Europe o describecultural pluralism in thecivic sphere,whereas n the United States t refers, n the very movementwhichobfuscates t, to the continuedostracizationof Blacks and o the crisis of thenationalmythologyof the 'Americandream' of 'equal opportunity or all', cor-relative of the bankruptcyof public educationat the very time when competitionfor cultural capital s intensifying and class nequalitiesare growing at a dizzyingpace.The locution multicultural' conceals his crisis by artificially restricting t tothe university microcosmand by expressing t on an ostensibly ethnic' register,

when what s really at stake s not the incorporationof marginalizedcultures n the

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academiccanonbut accesso the instruments f (re)production f the middle andupper classes, hief among hem he university, n the contextof active andmassivedisengagementy the state.North American multiculturalism' is neitheraconceptnor a theory, nor a social or political movement even though t claims tobe all those hings at the same ime. It is a screendiscourse,whose ntellectualstatus s the productof a gigantic effect of national and nternationalallodoxia,which deceivesboth thosewho are party to it and hosewho are not. It is also aNorth Americandiscourse, ven hough t thinks of itself and presentstself as auniversal discourse,o the extent hat it expresseshe contradictions pecific o thepredicament f US academics.Cut off from the public sphereand subjected o ahigh degreeof competitivedifferentiation n their professionalmilieu, USprofessors ave nowhere o invest heir political libido but in campussquabblesdressedup as conceptual attles oyal.The samedemonstration ould be made about he highly polysemicnotion of'globalization', whose upshot if not function -is to dress up the effects ofAmerican mperialism n the trappingsof cultural oecumenicism r economicfatalism and o makea transnational elation of economicpowerappear ike anatural necessity.Througha symbolic reversalbasedon the naturalization f theschemata f neoliberal hought, he reshapingof social elationsand culturalpracticesafter he US template,which has been orced upon advanced ocietiesthrough he pauperization f the state, he commodification f public goodsand hegeneralization f job insecurity, s nowadaysacceptedwith resignationas theinevitable outcomeof nationalevolution, when t is not celebratedwith sheep-likeenthusiasm.An empirical analysisof the trajectory of the advanced conomiesoverthe longueduree suggests,n contrast, hat 'globalization' is not a new phaseofcapitalism,but a 'rhetoric' invoked by governmentsn order o justify theirvoluntary surrendero the financial marketsand their conversion o a fiduciaryconception f the firm. Far from being -as we are constantly old -the inevitableresult of the growth of foreign trade, deindustrialization, rowing inequalityand theretrenchment f socialpolicies are the result of domesticpolitical decisions hatreflect he tipping of the balanceof class orces n favour of the ownersof capital.By imposing on the rest of the world categories f perception omologous o itssocial structures,he USA is refashioning he entire world in its image: he mentalcolonization hat operates hrough he dissemination f theseconcepts an onlylead to a sort of generalized nd evenspontaneousWashington onsensus', s onecan readily observe n the sphereof economics, hilanthrophyor managementtraining. Indeed, his double discoursewhich, although ounded on belief,mimicsscienceby superimposinghe appearance f reason and especiallyeconomic orpolitological reason on the social antasiesof the dominant, s endowedwith theperformativepower o bring into being he very realities it claims to describe,according o the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy: odged n the minds ofpolitical or economicdecision-makers nd their publics, t is usedas an instrumentof construction f public and private policies and at the same ime to evaluate hosevery policies. Like the mythologiesof the age of science, he new planetaryvulgaterests on a seriesof oppositionsand equivalenceswhich supportand reinforceoneanother o depict he contemporary ransformations dvanced ocietiesare under-going -economic disinvestment y the stateand reinforcement f its police andpenal components, eregulation f financial flows and relaxationof administrativecontrols on the employmentmarket, eductionof social protectionand moralizingcelebrationof 'individual responsibility' -as in turn benign, necessary,neluctableor desirable, ccording o the oppositionsset out in the following ideologicalschema:

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state ~ [globalization] ~constraintclosedrigidimmobile, ossilizedpast,outdatedstasisgroup, obby, holism,collectivismuniformity, artificialityautocratic 'totalitarian')

marketfreedomopenflexibledynamic,moving,self-transformingfuture, noveltygrowthindividual, ndividualismdiversity,authenticitydemocratic

The imperialismof neoliberal eason inds its suprementellectual accomplish-ment n two new figuresof the cultural producer hat are increasingly rowding theautonomous nd critical intellectualborn of the Enlightenment radition out of thepublic scene.One s the expert who, in the shadowy orridorsof ministries orcompanyheadquarters, rin the isolation of think-tanks,prepareshighly technicaldocuments, referablycouched n economicor mathematical anguage, sed ojustify policy choicesmade on decidedly non-technical rounds. The perfectexamplebeing plans o 'save' retirementschemesrom the supposedhreatposedby the increase n life expectancy,where demographic emonstrations reused torailroad privatizationplans that consecratehe power of shareholders nd shift riskto wage-earnershroughpensions unds). The other s the communicationconsultant o the prince -a defector rom the academicworld entered nto theserviceof the dominant,whose mission s to give an academic eneer o thepolitical projectsof the new stateand business obility. Its planetaryprototype swithout contest he British sociologistAnthony Giddens,Director of the LondonSchoolof Economics, nd father of 'structuration heory', a scholasticsynthesisofvarious sociologicaland philosophical raditions decisivelywrenchedout of theircontextand thus ideally suited o the task of academicized ociodicy..One may see he perfect llustration of the cunning of imperialist reason n thefact that it is England which, for historical,cultural and inguistic reasons, tandsin an intermediary,neutralposition (in the etymologicalsense f 'neither/nor' or'either/or') between he United Statesand continentalEurope that has suppliedthe world with a bicephalousTrojan horse,with one political and one ntellectualhead, n the dual personaof Tony Blair and Anthony Giddens.On the strengthofhis ties to politicians,Giddenshas emergedas he globe-trottingapostleof a 'ThirdWay' which, in his own words -which musthere be cited from the catalogueoftextbook-styledefinitions of his theoriesand political views in the FAQ (FrequentlyAsked Questions) ectionof his London Schoolof Economicswebsite,'takes a positive attitude owards globaliz-ation'; 'tries [sic] to respond o changingpatternsof inequality', but begins bywarning that the poor today are not the sameas the poor of the past', and that,'likewise, the rich are not the sameas they used o be'; accepts he idea that'existing socialwelfare systems, nd the broaderstructureof the State,are thesourceof problems,not only the meansof resolving hem'; 'emphasizeshat socialand economicpolicy are intrinsically connected', n order better o assert hat'social spending as o be assessedn terms of its consequencesor the economyasa whole'; and, inally 'concerns tself with mechanisms f exclusionat the bottomand the top [sic]', convincedas it is that 'redefining nequality n relation oexclusionat both evels s consistentwith a dynamic conception f inequality'. Themastersof the economy,and the other excluded at the top', can sleep n peace:they have ound their Pangloss.This is a revised version of a translation by David Macey of an article that originally appearednLe Monde Diplomatique 554, May 2000, pp. 6-7.

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4.50 $8.00

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NewLiberalSpeakFeminism against the Feminine

Pinochet, Postdictatorship and the MultitudeGillian Rose and the Project of a Critical Marxism

Spivak's Critique of Postcolonial Reason


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ISSN 0300 211X BIPAD 84986

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RP101 -May/June 2000Ben Clift: The New Social Democracy in FranceRoss Poole: Indigenous Claims and Liberal TheoryMartha E. Gimenez: Materialist and Marxist FeminismsJacinda Swanson: The Politics of Personal ResponsibilityFrancis Mulhern on Althusser's Machiavelli and Us

RP97 -Sept/Oct 1999Alan Sinfield: The Andrew Sullivan PhenomenonSimon Bromley: Castefls's The Information AgeStella Sandford: Contingent Ontologies of Sex and GenderEtienne Balibar Interview: Philosophy in FranceBen Watson on The Zizek Reader

enturyRP102 -July/August 2000Ben Watson: Philosophy on TelevisionCraig Brandist: Neo-Kantianism in Cultural TheoryKate Soper: Realism, Humanism and the Politics of NatulPeter Hallward: Reply to Critchley on Badiou's Ethicslaplanche Interview: Rethinking Psychoanalysis

RP98 -Nov/Dec 1999Fred Halliday: The Significance of the Twentieth CHenry Staten: 'Radical Evil' RevivedJohn Roberts: Philosophizing the EverydayMalcolm Bull: Hearing the SilenceKate Soper on Western Attitudes to NatureRP99 -Jan/Feb 2000Ben Watson: Scruton's Backwoods MusicologyPeter Hallward: Recent French PhilosophyMatt F. Connell: Adorno's Proustian SublimationsSteve Giles: Reflections on Kracauer's 'Mass Ornament'

RP103 -Sept/Oct 2000Julian Petley: New Labour versus Horny CatbabePeter Osborne: Radicalism and PhilosophyLynne Segal: Psychoanalysis and PoliticsJonathan Dollimore: Wishful Theory and Sexual PoliticsJohn Roberts: On Autonomy and the Avant-GardeJohn Kraniauskas: Empire, or Multitude -Transnational NegriRP104 -Nov/Dec 2000Madeleine Davis: Dictators and Democrats in Latin AmericaHoward Caygill: Levinas's Political JudgementBill Schwarz: Actually Existing PostcolonialismJay Bernstein: Social Signs and Natural Bodies

RP100 -March/April2000Homi K. Bhabha: On Minorities: Cultural RightsMark Neocleous: Against SecuritySimon Critchley: The Ethics of Alain BadiouChetan Bhatt: Primordia! BeingLance & Tanesini: Identity Judgements, Queer PoliticsKevin Magill on A.J. Ayer: A Life

April 2001Commentary John Roberts: Protest and SurviveArticles Monique Schneider: Genealogies of the Masculine

Reviews

Catherine Malabou: History as MourningNeil Smith: New Geographies, Old OntologiesSwasti Mitter on Nussbaum's Women and DevelopmentStewart Martin on Badiou's Manifesto for PhilosophyNathan Widder on Patton's Deleuze and the Political


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Ra

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C ALP Hof socialist and

LOS 0feminist ph

P H Yosophy

JANUARY'FEBRUARY 2001

Editorial collectiveChris Arthur, Andrew Chitty, DianaCoole, Howard Feather, Jean Grimshaw,Esther Leslie, JosephMcCarney, KevinMagill, Stewart Martin, Mark Neocleous,Peter Osborne, Stella Sandford, SeanSayers, AlessandraTanesini

COMMENTARYNewLiberalSpeak: Notes on the New Planetary VulgatePierre Bourdieu and Loic Wacquant 2

Editorial groupHoward Feather, Kevin Magill, StewartMartin, Mark Neocleous,Peter Osborne(Reviews), Stella Sandford, AlessandraTanesini

ARTICLESFeminism against 'the Feminine'StellaSandfordThe Constitution of Society: Pinochet, Postdictatorship and theMultitudeJon Beasley-MurrayGillian Rose and the Project of a Critical MarxismTony Gorman '.."""Kant's 'Raw Man' and the Miming of Primitivism:Spivak's Critique of Postcolonial ReasonChetanBhatt 37REVIEWSAdriana Cavarero. Relating Narratives: Storytelli.ngand Seif1wodCarolynSteedman , 45

ContributorsPierre Bourdieu is Professor ofSociology at the College de France andDirector of Studies at the Ecole desHautes Etudes en SciencesSocialesLoic Wacquant teaches n the Departmentof Sociology at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley.Stella Sandford te~chesphilosophy atMiddlesex University. She is the author ofThe Metaphysics ofLove: Gender andTranscendencen Levinas (Athlone, 2000).Jon Beasley-Murray is Lecturer in LatinAmerican Studies at the University ofManchester. He has published articles onPeronism and cultural studies, SenderoLuminoso and civil society theory, andGilles Deleuze's film theory.Tony Gorman teachesphilosophy at theUniversity of Staffordshire.Chetan Bhatt teachessociology atGoldsmiths College. He is the author ofLiberation and Purity (UCL Press, 1997)and a forthcolning book, HinduNationalism: Origins, Ideologies andModem Myths (Berg).

Judith Butler, Emesto Laclau and Slavoj Zitek, Contingency,Hegemony,Universality: ContemporaryDialogues on the LeftJohn Roberts """"""""""""""""""""""""""" 48Giorgio Agamben, Remnants ofAuschwitz: The Witnessand the ArchiveVictor Jeleniewski Seidler,Shadows of the Shoah: Jewish dentity andBelongingEsther Leslie 52RebeccaL. Spang,The Invention of he Restaurant: Paris and ModernGastronomic CultureJ.M. Coetzee,The Lives of AnimalsKate Soper 54Mark Neocleous,The Fabrication of Social Order: A Critical Theoryof PolicePhilip Derbyshire 56Michel Serres,The Birth of PhysicsAlan Murray 57Paul Ricoeur, The JustArto laitinen 58

OBITUARYCompendium Bookshop, 1968-2000PhilipDerbyshire

Layout by PetraPrykeTel: 020 7243 1464Copyeditedand ypesetby IlluminatiTel: 01981241164Productionby Stella Sandfordand PeterOsbornePrinted by RussellPress,Russell House,Bulwell Lane, Basford,Nottingham NG6 OBTBookshop distributionUK: Central Books,99 Wallis Road,London E95LNTel: 020 89864854USA: Bernardde Boer, 113EastCentreStreet,Nutley, New Jersey07100Tel: 2016679300;Ubiquity Distributors nc., 607 DegrawStreet,Brooklyn, New York 11217Tel: 718875 5491Cover: Calendar,2000Publishedby Radical PhilosophyLtd.www.radicalphilosophy.com , 60

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Wacquant and Bourdieu