Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies

“Jodi Dean provides an incredibly lucid explanation of what neoliberalism has been both in policy terms and collective fantasies of the relation of markets to freedom. But the really threatening Big Other in this book is not neoliberal ideology, but the failed and flawed leftist will that concedes too much power and unity to neoliberalism. This is a frank polemic that will stimulate many arguments about the past and future of critical theory and democratic politics in the United States.” - Lauren Berlant, author of The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Citizenship

“Jodi Dean’s new book provides what we have all been waiting for: the authentic theoretical analysis of how ideology functions in today’s global capitalism. Her diagnosis of ‘communicative capitalism’ discloses how our ‘really-existing democracies’ curtail prospects of radical emancipatory politics. Dean demonstrates this status of democracy as a political fantasy not through cheap pseudo-Marxist denunciations, but through a detailed examination of social, symbolic, and libidinal mechanisms and practices. To anyone who continues to dwell in illusions about liberal democracy, one should simply say: ‘Hey, didn’t you read Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies?’” - Slavoj Zizek, Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

“In Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies Jodi Dean pulls few punches in her critique of the American Left, for both its complacency and its limited capacity to (or even lack of awareness of the need to) offer a stand of political resistance to power. . . . Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies is not, however, merely a critique of the US Left; it is also a powerful demolition of its claims for a collective existence.” - David Chandler, Radical Philosophy

‘[A] provocative examination of contemporary Left politics. . . . The complex ideas of poststructuralist thinkers such as Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Zizek figure prominently in her analysis. As in her earlier work, however, Dean is able to relate the value of such thinkers in understanding contemporary events with unique lucidity and clarity. . . . [A]n important, worthwhile, and entertaining contribution to discussions of radical alternatives to current political realities. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, upper-division undergraduate students, and above.” - R. W. Glover, Choice

“Dean . . . offers an interesting critique of the Left, arguing that it has capitulated to conservatives, beginning in the 1960s, and failed to respond to the neoliberal agenda implemented during the Clinton presidency.” - Andrew Moran, Democratization

“Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies is inspiring because it calls for action on a new terrain. . . This is a rattling good yarn, one that shivers the timbers and inspires this reader at least to cut loose the anchor and set sail for new horizons.” - Sean Cubitt, Arena

“Dean’s [text] is stimulating in its ability to offer an alternative view of how neoliberalism achieved apparent invincibility. The work offers a challenge to leftists to produce not only some new, radical ideas but to unite and be heard once more.” - Lucy Welsh, Feminist Legal Studies