Loyal oppositions: Searching for alternatives in postmodern American culture
Abstract
The context for this project is the ongoing dilemma posed by late-capitalist society and postmodern culture, namely, whether these remain the ultimate horizon of the contemporary world and whether efforts to resist, oppose, represent critically, or propose alternatives to the “cultural dominant” of postmodernism are merely atavistic. The work of theorists associated with postmodernism is discussed, and the anti- or “post-” Marxist positions of many postmodernists are criticized. Specifically endorsed are Fredric Jameson's defense of Marxist dialectical theory, class analysis, and utopian politics and Slavoj Žižek's similar defense of dialectical theory in his effort to advance the project of ideology critique through a psychoanalytic, Hegelian Marxism. With the understanding that debates about capitalism and resistance are not strictly limited to academic theory, the study includes analyses of several texts of recent American culture. Individual chapters are devoted to alternative rock music and culture; literary postmodernism, specifically in the work of Don DeLillo; and independent film, specifically in the work of John Sayles. These are examined for the comments they make within their own fields on the theoretical issues raised in the opening chapter. The study concludes with a critical discussion of the institutional context within which these theoretical debates take place, namely, the academy, and specifically, American English departments. This institutional setting is considered within the broader context of late-capitalist socioeconomic conditions, the critique of which has been the focus of the entire study. Consideration of this context allows for a critical response to the ongoing labor crisis in academia as it relates to labor issues in the broader economy. Ultimately, this project recognizes that in the late capitalist world, efforts at resistance appear unavoidably as “loyal” oppositions, but it nonetheless insists on the importance of the impetus behind such efforts.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Hughes, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American literature|American studies|Film studies
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