Spectacle of Critique

Name: Spectacle of Critique
Brand: Taylor & Francis

Taylor & Francis

Far from being the preserve of a few elite thinkers, critique increasingly dominates public life in modernity, leading to a cacophony of accusation and denunciation around all political issues. The technique of unmasking \u2018power\u2019 or \u2018hegemony\u2019 or \u2018ideology\u2019 has now been adopted across the political spectrum, where critical discourses are routinely used to suggest that anything and everything is only a \u2018construct\u2019 or even a \u2018conspiracy\u2019. This book draws on anthropological theory to provide a different perspective on this phenomenon; critique appears as a liminal predicament combining imitative polemical and schismatic urges with a haunting sense of uncertainty. It thereby addresses a central academic concern, with a special focus on political critique in the public sphere and within social media. Combining historical interrogations of the roots of critique, as well as examining contemporary political discourse in relation to populism, a.