Situationism and the recuperation of an ideology in the era of Trump, fake news and post-truth politics

an article by Paul Bleakley (University of New England, Australia) published in Capital & Class Volume 42 Issue 3 (October 2018)

Abstract

As a variant ideology based on libertarian Marxism, the philosophy of situationism failed to achieve widespread popularity beyond a relatively brief time frame between the late 1950s and early 1970s. Despite this short-lived period of ascendency, the impact of Situationist concepts such as psychogeography, recuperation and the Spectacle have continued to play a role in the ongoing study of how reality is constructed in a system of advanced capitalism.

Situationism’s concern with the perception of reality as shaped by the mass media is of particular significance in the context of contemporary politics that has been dubbed the ‘post-truth era’. The disavowal of the mass media by US President Donald Trump may give the impression of a Situationist approach that rejects the impact of such reality-shaping tools, yet a closer inspection of his actions suggests that Trump himself is responsible for the construction of a neo-Spectacle in which the recuperation of anti-establishment sentiment provides the basis for the reconsolidation of the position held by the capitalist elite within American society.

I thought I was beginning to understand this but realised that I am going to have to do a lot of study to being myself up to speed. Is it worth it? Maybe not.

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