Revision of the neo-marxist concept of the “political spectacle"

Abstract

The article presents an analytical revision of the neo-Marxist concept of the “political spectacle”, in which the main position of political neo-Marxism is formed.There is a possibility of political choice within the framework of the real absence of a political alternative (the political alternative is illusory) in the Western political process. The revision is carried out in two stages: a theoretical revision of the concept (a postpositivist check for falsifiability and a proposal for ways of theoretical development) and an empirical revision of the concept (a positivist check for verifiability). Verification of the neo-Marxist concept of “political spectacle” is carried out on the material of political forces in European Parliament. The verification method is the content analysis of the program documents of the “European Parties”.The article proves that the neo-Marxist concept of “political spectacle” is not theoretically correct enough and does not correspond to the current empirical material. First, the concept proceeds from the normativist view of the manipulative domination of capitalism and thus does not take into account the coordinated functioning of the modern bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Secondly, the example of the 2019 European Parliament elections shows that anti-capitalist forces are present in the Western electoral process and politics. The author concludes that it is necessary to update the neo-Marxist concept of the “political spectacle” on new theoretical grounds. The starting point of the updated concept is the following: the “political spectacle” of capitalism begins after the anti-capitalist forces become the structural elements of the reproduction of capitalist hegemony. On new theoretical grounds, the potential of the concept of “political spectacle” can be directed not to fix the political alienation of Western society, but to explain the capitalist political space as a system that can adaptively accumulate its own systemic deviations (fluctuations).