Capitalism, Crises, and "Great Refusals"

Abstract

“Great refusals,” the progressive movements that shattered the status quo, can be best understood through the prism of critical theory that sees these mobilizations as responses to the legitimation crises of advanced capitalism that migrated into the realms of subjectivity, rendering identity a contested terrain while eliciting powerful emotions that impelled social mobilizations. Among these emotions, rooted in the FreudoMarxist philosophical anthropology that enabled the critique of alienated labor, is the capacity for hope. And central to that notion of hope is a vision of utopian possibility in which membership in democratic, identity granting/recognizing communities of meaning allows for the creative self-realization of all. “It is only for those without hope that hope is given.” ―Walter Benjamin Capitalism has always rested upon inherent contradictions that inevitably result in crises.2 As such, we often see various kinds of resistance from sabotage to retreatism and cultural escapism, and, at certain 1. The author wishes to note his appreciation to Andrew Lamas, who made important contributions to this article. 2. The basic contradiction is between labor and capital. But there are other contradictions: ideologies of liberte, egalite, fraternite mask domination, — 350 — Lauren Langman