On Sun, 14 Feb 1999, Rob Schaap wrote: > How does this *polarise* our identities? Doesn't it sorta *merge* 'em? Yep. That's the scary part of it: capital isn't just this external thing, it gets into our skulls. We're all part of The Beast. > their identity? Or is identity not about exclusion? Or is liberation the > process of universal identity-dissipation? If so, late capitalism is doing > it nicely, no? No need for us to lift a finger then , I'da thought. Naw, Capital is destroying the older, national identities, is all. But it's also reconstructing/reproducing spanking new, globalized ones. Just think of the politics of the euro, or the yenification of East Asia, or the Microsoftization of virtually everything. > it? If so, does phallus-dissipation constitute revolutionary practice? It can, at times; but it can also be a convenient cover for restorationist, conservative agendas (i.e. the Rightwing attack on the welfare state, which becomes this evil symbolic Phallus doing violence to poor helpless welfare mothers etc., when in fact it's the market itself which is doing the real violence). Neoliberalism and a certain multinational corporate multiculturalism are good examples of this. Critical theory has to be careful about hoisting its flag too quickly to the dominant tendencies of the age. -- Dennis
