UC Santa Cruz

This work illustrates how a renewed right has emerged against the backdrop of a “progressive” mode of neoliberal capitalism. An intensifying strain between political economy and ideology has unsettled key constructs traditionally used to produce political legitimacy. To understand this, attention is paid to neoliberalism’s legitimizing ideology, which I argue is conditioned by humanitarian reason and ethics. This ideological destabilization has opened space for new emergent reactionary politicization. Contemporary reactionary politics take aim at neoliberalism’s legitimizing ideology rather than its political economy. This conjunctural dynamic has also brought about serious changes in areas typically understood as static in their support of reactionary politics, like whiteness and masculinity. This dissertation contours these changes and argues for a new analysis of reactionary politics in the US.