• Duggan, Equality?
• Due: Summary paper #5 (Duggan); decide which summaries you will post to Amazon
What are the cultural politics Duggan cares about?
How does it compare to your own politics and observations?
What forms of social justice does Duggan emphasize?
How do her understandings help us consider our own desires for social justice?
What does Duggan think we should be doing? What would that take?
Where do you fit in? Where do you want to be?
Wikipedia: neoliberalism:
"Neoliberalism refers to a political movement that espouses economic liberalism as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty. The movement is sometimes described as an effort to revert to the economic policies of the 18th and 19th centuries classical liberalism.[1] Strictly in the context of English-language usage the term is an abbreviation of "neoclassical liberalism", since in other languages liberalism has more or less retained its classical meaning."
Duggan, xi, xii:
Five phases of neoliberal hegemony:
- 1) "attacks on progressive redistributive internationalism" in 50s and 60s
- 2) attacks on "downwardly redistributive" social movements in 60s and 70s
- 3) "pro-business activism" in the 70s, organizing to to 'redistribute resources upward"
- 4) "culture wars" in the 80s and 90s
- 5) nondistributive "equality" politics for global consumption and upward distribution of resources in 21st century.
Spellings Report and responses: brief bibliography:
A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U. S. Higher Education. Report of the Commission Appointed by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (Sept. 2006). http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/index.html
commission report: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports.html
USDofED update: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/plan/index.html
Carnegie response (Lee Schulman) http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/news/sub.asp?key=51&subkey=2024
AAC&U response to draft report http://www.aacu.org/About/statements/SpellingsFinalDraft.cfm
AAC&U response to report http://www.wpacouncil.org/node/486
MLA response: http://www.mla.org/comments_spellingsreport
NASULGC Voluntary System of Accountability http://www.nasulgc.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=170
STUDENTS NOTE:
I'd like you to look over your summary for today and make sure it really summarizes the WHOLE book, not just the beginning. If that is not really clear, please rewrite the summary for today. I will give permission for folks to post again tomorrow if that is the case. Also, the summary part is intended to be substantive -- about a page and half worth of discussion and description, before anything else is added. So, -- check yours out -- make sure it is substantive and thoroughly overs the whole book, and if there is any question in your mind that it does this, please rewrite it and repost it. Summaries too brief and too limited won't get credit.
15 comments:
Summary: Lisa Duggan’s “Twilight of Equality?”
Lisa Duggan expresses her view on the conflict between free market economics as exemplified by neoliberalism and the promotion of social policies. She explores the connections between cultural and economic politics in U.S history. The book starts out with an introduction of neoliberalism and how it dismantled the New Deal, and how equality throughout the years seemed to be more attainable. Duggan believes that Neo-liberalism has had an negative effect on equality, “Neoliberalism developed over many decades as a mode of polemic aimed at dismantling the limited U.S. welfare state, in order to enhance corporate profit rates. The raising of profit rates required that money be diverted from other social uses, thus increasing overall economic inequality” (XII). She uses history to restructure the origin of economic, social, political, and cultural inequalities in America. Duggan believes that inequality is growing in the U.S. Neo-liberalism is an incarnation of liberalism; it organizes material and political life in terms of race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, and religion. To understand this better, Duggan provides the reader with a little history. The neo-liberal revolution has advanced. Neoliberal politicians and corporate employers and media in the US had already moved significantly in the direction of “diversity, and towards “equality”. She emphasizes how political conservatives, the “neo-liberals” are gaining economic success while the progressive lefts are growing weaker and encourages progressives to challenge the neo-liberals.
Discussion:
•Same sex couples were excluded from relief funds associated with September 11, 2001 attacks.
Biography:
•Director of the American Studies Program and Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University
•Director of the American Studies ProgramUniversity of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. 1992
•Sarah Lawrence College, M.A. 1979
•University of Virginia, BA 1976
Violate Assumptions:
1. I didn’t know that same-sex couples didn’t originally get equal relief from the Sept. 11 attacks.
Duggan prefaces her argument within the book by stating: “The Twilight of Equality? Is written as an analysis of the politics of the 1990’s, and as a polemic for the twenty-first century, to argue that as long as the progressive-left represents and reproduces itself as divided into economic vs. cultural, universal vs. identity-based, distribution vs. recognition-oriented, local or national vs. global branches, it will defeat itself” (Intro XX). Throughout the book, Duggan uses historical background to support her assertion that neoliberal politics separates the private from the public, a practice which is in place to uphold capitalistic, imperialistic, and oppressive policy and ideology. One of the main tactics is to promote “multiculturalism”, which is generally put in place to label or confine a person or group to keep them submissive and inferior, as exemplified by the presidencies of both Clinton and Bush, the actions of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and the destructive writings of Sullivan, a gay neoliberal.
Duggan is concerned with the progression and ultimate goal of equality. She supports downward distribution, the right-to-privacy-in-public, interconnectedness through diversity and cross-fertilization, and overcoming oppressive values and policies through politics, rather than reproducing them. She views the progressive-left as a failing entity, one constructed to oppose conservative ideology and strategy that has come to reproduce it. In her point of view, the progressive-left is divisive, narrow or limited, and wholly unequal, as well as an institution that promotes inequalities in general. Like conservatives, progressive-liberals used the façade of multiculturalism in order to promote the idea of equality and progress, though only on superficial terms that allow them to benefit on economic and political levels. This false social change is more divisive and negative than it is progressive or positive. Duggan cites the SUNY incident and the WTO/IMF anti-globalization protests as positive examples of direct social contact and change, though is critical of the (lack of) aftereffects. The author suggests that political parties should not separate the public from the private in ways that promote social, political, and economic upward distribution. To do this, the progressive-left, as well as society, needs to radicalize their politics by having more broad goals and activisms that are inclusive, critical, interconnected, and radical.
Discussion Questions:
What affect did Fallwell’s blame on 9/11 have on society?
How would one go about making the right to privacy public? Is this not as progressive as Duggan asserts? How does this work for and against personal safety?
Are the issues in this book too much too soon? How do we end bigotry? Is this necessary before political shift?
Summary
The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy by Lisa Duggan is an academic foray into the rapidly changing American political scene. She charts the rise of the “neoliberal”, also referred to as “Compassionate Conservatives” of “New Democrats”. These neoliberals are further propagating the social inequalities that exist within our society. One of the main mechanisms that she discusses is the upwards economic redistribution that is occurring. By giving the “haves” more resources, we are just increasing general social disparities. To Duggan, the emergent neoliberalism is only harming America as we know it.
Duggan’s language is not particularly accessible. Her sentence structure often confuses the reader. I would customarily read several pages only to realize that I had no idea what her argument was and have to go back and reread them; even then, I frequently did not fully understand her purpose. While already a short book in length, I feel that it would benefit from a translation to “plain English” for the typical lay reader.
Insights
• Beacon Press, an independent publishing group founded in 1854, publishes Duggan’s book. It’s a progressive publishing firm with a focus on issues of social equality and inequality. The titles they carry fit more under the umbrella of “liberal arts” than they do that of traditional sciences. Interestingly enough, they do have a religious affiliation: they cater to UUs. However, the religious beliefs of Unitarian Universalists are in accordance with (or perhaps because of) their publishing trends. As for what this says about Duggan’s work, it demonstrates that the piece is likely to be political and liberal. In both circumstances, the book fits in neatly with the publisher’s ideology.
• Twilight of Equality was published in 2003. Work and research on the book probably started in the late 1990s but certainly continued into the new millennium. The impact of certain events is obvious, like the fall of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Duggan works with the issues that were relevant then, and are certainly still being debated now. Issues like same-sex marriage, racism, and class inequalities are all addressed.
Discussion Questions
• Now that we’ve read all of these words about neoliberalism, what exactly does that mean? What does neoliberalism mean to us?
• On page 50, Duggan discusses “the new homonormativity” that plays into assimilationist arguments. If this is the new homonormativity, then what’s the old normativity? Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of the phrase to have several, and often-contradictory meanings attached to the same word?
• Duggan seems to use the term “queer” in an often politicized and negative sense. Do you agree? How would you interpret the term queer?
• The issues of lgbt equality discussed in Chapter 3 seem to mirror those of other movements in that they move from extremist to more moderate. Can you think of other examples where a large debate emerges from within a community with the original more progressive/leftist encounters a more moderate and perhaps assimilationist perspective? How do these examples increase our understanding of the lgbt issues? (Example: There is presently a debate within the ultimate frisbee community that closely resembles that recounted by Duggan.)
• Duggan is arguing against the currently growing popularity of the new neoliberal stance. However, are the new neoliberal arguments that bad? They are serving to achieve some political change. Isn’t it necessary to get the inch before you get the mile?
Summary
Lisa Duggan’s recent book, “The Twilight of Equality?” discusses the ideals of neoliberalism and how those ideals have played out through history. While ultimately promoting a revitalization of progressive politics in the United States today, Duggan’s main point for this book is to show how the United States Government has failed in various areas throughout history. In the first part of this book, “Downsizing Democracy”, Duggan defines many of the ideals of neoliberalism and how they have affected politicians and lawmakers throughout the last century. She also writes about the developing conflict over cultural politics. Duggan believes that on one side, you have the cultural traditionalists who are completely opposed to multiculturalism. On the other side, you have people who want equality and work to promote diversity and tolerance. It is this conflict of ideologies that causes much disagreement in today’s politics. In the second part of the book, Duggan focuses on the public’s view of gender by discussing the situation at the University of New York at New Paltz in 1997. There was widespread outrage over a women’s studies conference on sexuality that ultimately, almost got the president of the university fired. The situation came to involve Governor Pataki as well as many other high political officials that felt that this conference “emptied academic freedom of its dignity.” This was just one example of the “culture wars” that Duggan described in holding back women’s liberation today.
In the third part of the book, Duggan discusses the gay liberation movement in terms of how it is taking the neoliberal approach as well as other approaches in order to succeed. She begins the chapter with a quote from the anti-gay religious figure, Jerry Falwell. Falwell is quoted as saying that gays and lesbians along with abortionists and feminists were responsible for the 9/11 attacks as these groups were the ones that “helped this happen.” Duggan also discusses such gay rights groups as the Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin National Campaign and the various ways these groups are working towards gay liberation. Duggan then goes on to discuss two main arenas where gay people are discriminated against in society today: marriage and the military. In the final part of the book, Duggan discusses the distinction that neoliberalism makes between social class politics and identity or cultural politics. She believes that this split between progressive liberals causes “disconnection” for the progressive-left. Duggan believes that on one side of the argument you have people who are in favor of economic equality and are extremely opposed to globalization. One the other side, you have people in favor of identity politics, such as gays or lesbians supporting gay marriage or feminists supporting reproductive rights. Because of the variety of interests with little unity, the progressive-left is taking an unorganized approach.
After reading this book, there were several topics that I wanted to discuss in class today. First of all, after reading about the basics of neoliberalism and its ideals, I wanted to know if there are any politicians or political officials that openly have this same ideology of neoliberalism. If so, have they had any impact on the country or have they usually not been elected due to few people understanding their ideals? Secondly, I don’t completely understand the difference between class politics and identity politics. I thought that identity politics basically included social class, racial background, and sexuality. Why do these two ideologies have to be separate? Thirdly, after reading about neoliberalism, I was still unsure as to the position that it would take on specific issues. What stance would neoliberals take on issues such as affirmative action, the death penalty, and reproductive rights? Finally, Duggan mentioned that there was mass imprisonment during Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s presidencies. What was this increase in imprisonment due to?
In using the “How to Read” handout, I found it useful to constantly be questioning what exactly the author was arguing and why she was arguing that point. Ultimately, I found that Lisa Duggan was arguing for progressive politics, whether Republican or Democratic, to unify in our country today. She thinks that the conflict between class politics and identity politics should basically compromise so that progressive people can include both identity and class politics into their ideologies. Overall, I found Lisa Duggan’s book to be very eye-opening as she presents some interesting examples of inequalities existing today in our country. I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted a completely fresh, new perspective on politics in the United States today.
Violated Assumptions
1. Assumption: The aspect of the social class of a person would be included in their identity politics along with their race, gender, and sexuality.
Duggan feels that there has been a liberal distinction between the economy, the state, civil society, and the family. Because of these distinctions, class politics, which she defines as “the critique of economic inequality”, and identity politics, which she defines as the “protest against exclusions from national citizenship or public participation”, have been separated to create a division in progressive politics. She gives the example that in the early 19th century many people who were involved in identity politics with issues like abolitionism and the women’s suffrage movement were not involved in class politics with issues like worker militancy, socialism, or anarchism in the United States. The social class and status of a person seems to play so heavily on a person’s identity that it doesn’t seem to make sense as to why class politics and identity politics could not be combined.
2. Assumption: The “welfare state” would not cause people to commonly see the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement as having the same motives and thus, receiving attacks from conservatives.
Even though Duggan argues that these two historical events of the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement were “heterogeneous”, she writes that many other people felt very differently about these events. Many conservatives felt that these two events were lumped together in an effort to “expand the state and reduce the freedoms and prerogatives of private economic, associational, and family life.” With the New Deal and Civil Rights Movement happening about forty years apart from one another, it is hard to see how these movements would be lumped together and seen as working towards the same purpose as going against conservative beliefs and fundamentals.
3. Assumption: The increased welfare state was due to drug use, domestic abuse, or low wage work that caused many women and men to be unable to support themselves and their families.
I was completely taken aback to read that many people against the welfare state thought that the issue of welfare was one group’s problem and only one group’s problem. Many thought and continue to believe that “the sexual practices and household structures of poor women, especially black women, are the central causes of poverty and of associated social disorder and criminality.” I can’t believe that a person could blame one group of people, specifically black women, for increased welfare, sexual promiscuity, poverty, social disorder, and high crime. I would be interested to see the statistics of how valid this belief really is.
The twilight of Equality begins with an analysis of how mainstream politics have reverted back to the idea of neoliberalism. She fully breaks down the concept by placing different political affiliations along a spectrum of neoliberalism to emphasize the ways in which our general understanding of the political divide is reshaped within this term. After distinguishing political terms Duggan addresses this issues with which neoliberalism refers to and the inherent affects the implementation of these politics have and will have on the global and social economy. A particular example that she sites is the, “vast economic inequalities that neoliberal policies have generated globally, particularly in the U.S. and Great Britain.” One theme that seems to be quite prominent is that the practice of pedaling Western ideologies to the rest of the world as “the way,” to enhance the global quality of life yet the cultural impracticability is ignored and then positioned as the fault of the specific state economy in question. The mentality that these politics are espoused with is a perpetuation of western imperialism rather than a concerted effort to heal the wounds of developing countries through stabilizing market economies. In his piece Duggan presents a compelling and thorough analysis of the ways in which neoliberal politics have compromised the distribution of equality.
Following this introduction, Duggan goes into an analysis of how neoliberal politics have distorted and reshaped intentions of social and cultural movements. These concepts were essentially hijacked in their infancy and espoused in a very partialized manner. The first issue that Duggan discuses is the attempt to control and privatize the academy that ensued in the wake of a rather progressive, informative and wholesomely explicit conference which took place at a university in New York. This conference was viewed by many right-wing pundits as disreputable and inappropriate within the academic and vicariously social spheres. Her analysis centered on the neoliberal contradiction that arouse in the backlash facing this conference, that attempted to support the status quo of academic freedom while denouncing the practices that would actualize this principle. Essentially, market control and the mechanisms there enlisted were using the money trail to impose a very stratified social agenda on higher education. Duggan paints the picture as a university system hinging on the production of individuals with adequate vocational skills to feed a production demand rather than cultivating the possibility of critical citizenship.
Her next topic focused on the proclamation of equality in reference to a particular form of the gay rights movement as was allowable in certain social and economic climates. She begins her discussion of this topic with the boom in the acceptance of diversity post 9/11. These unfortunate circumstances opened a door for society to view each individual, queer or otherwise, as a citizen first. A climate of Americanism fueled tolerance for the diversity therein, however, when the actual legal implications of acceptance were put on the table “supporters” began to partialize acceptance. Tolerance was only acceptable in so far as nothing about the distribution of equality had changed. The funding of the gay movement was allocated most directly to those organizations willing to speak in the lowest tone. The compromising of the full queer agenda may be understandable to the extent that the demand to, “ show us the money,” had never seen this glimmer of opportunity within corporate America.
Duggan’s final chapter brings all of these concepts and contradictions together when she strikes at the heart of the matter, Love and Money. Love- acceptance, advocating, tolerance- is in fact conditional. It became very clear in this piece that social climates directly influence an economic response, in turn affecting the stabilization of assets for a majority of the hands feeding. An analysis of the success and reform of social movements, Duggan claims, must hinge on an understanding of neoliberal politics, which have created a perversion of equality. Essentially, money decides if equality goes round and admission is still vastly limited with the resistance of social movements in refusing to compromise their purpose for a sliver of the pie allotted by those attempting to tie our hands.
Discussion:
1. Can social movements succeed without money in a climate of such expansive globalizaton.
2. Is some progress good despite the compromising of entirely broad movements?
Twilight of Equality
In Lisa Duggan’s Twilight of Equality she attempts to reconceptualize the beginning of social, political and cultural inequalities of in America. Using the terms liberalism and neo-liberalism she emphasizes how different social / political movements have defined and re defined these terms. Liberalism refers to a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal. Neoliberalism she describes as a political movement that espouses economic liberalism as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty. She further stresses a capitalistic system that caters to the needs of the ones that seek to maintain corporate and political hegemony.
Duggan moreover focuses on the political campaigns such as the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administration to convey the shifts of agencies within corporate political America; providing an overview of the many eras that shaped and impacted feminist movements. Painting this picture of hegemonic western society allows the reader to better understand how feminism(s) were shaped and how other social factors such as class, gender, race and religion intersect, unite, and divide feminism.
Points of Insight
•Page 20 “ The US government have begun to advocate violence and war abroad as well as increasing disciplinary surveillance at home as modes of ensuring the stability of Western corporate and political hegemony.
•Page 9 “ The Traditional conservatives, self identified as such during the 1940’s and 1950’s did not easily accept the neocons who had too recently been tarnish with liberal earnings”
•Neoliberal politicians and corporate employers and media in the United States have already moved significantly in the direction of “diversity” if not towards substantive equality. Pg 44
Topics of Interest
•Liberalism: private vs public
•Neo-liberalism
•Left wing politics
•Corporate and political agency
SUMMARY:
The book “The Twilight of Equality?” authored by Lisa Duggan, is essentially an argument that calls for changes in the conceptualizations and practice of the progressive left in order to defeat neoliberalism. In Duggan’s own words, “Overall the ‘Twilight of Equality?’ argues that neoliberalism has a shifting cultural politics that the progressive left must understand in order to constitute an effective opposition” (xxi). Duggan sets up this argument in her introduction and then uses four subsequent chapters to support it. These four chapter are entitled “Downsizing Democracy,” “The Incredible Shrinking Public,” “Equality, Inc” and “Love and Money,” and are presented in the order they are listed.
Duggan’s introduction contextualizes her argument, presenting the formation of neoliberalism and its shifting objectives overtime. Duggan also introduces the neoliberalist use of race, class and gender as a tool to achieve a given objective. In chapter one, Duggan moves into an examination of neoliberalism as rooted in Liberalism. In doing so, Duggan is able explain the claims of present day neoliberalism, specifically regarding the claim of separation between economic, political, and social goals from those of private life. Duggan then proceeds to expose these claims as false, using evidence such as property qualifications for voting, welfare reform, and international loan policies. In Chapter two, Duggan presents a case study that proves the connection between the neoliberal “culture wars” and tax cuts. The “case study” she uses in this chapter is a women’s studies conference at SUNY University in 1997. Duggan shows that the intense “moral” opposition to this conference among neoliberals directly correlates with their tax cut objectives at the time, as the conference was used as justification for reduction in federal funding for public education. In chapter three, Duggan conducts a discussion about the emergence of “multicultural” rhetoric in neoliberalism, primarily focusing on gay neoliberalist writers. In this chapter Duggan works to expose the neoliberal use of gay rights and equality rhetoric as a means of garnering support from gay communities, while still maintaining the gay minority status through privatizing gay life. In chapter four, Duggan presents a solution for defeating neoliberalism. Duggan suggests the elimination of divisions between progressive leftists concerned with identity politics and those concerned with economic and political justice. Furthermore, she argues that once these divisions are eliminated, a united progressive left must work to create an all encompassing and thorough study of neoliberal politics, in order to successfully challenge it.
“The Twilight of Equality?” is in many ways a call for the reconceptualization of neoliberalism, as well as the progressive left. The book works to replace simplifications and reductions of the neoliberal movement with thorough and complex conceptualizations. The book also advocates reconceptualizations among progressive leftists, encouraging leftists to overcome their divisions and view themselves as a unified movement. In this way, the book is very fitting in our feminist reconceptualization curriculum, as this book shows the importance of reconceptualization in political arenas. The book proves that reconceptualization is necessary in order to achieve goals, and on a more specific level, the book can be used as an instruction manual for the feminist movement to achieve their progressive political objectives.
HOW TO READ:
Biography-
Lisa Duggan is an activist, journalist, and cultural historian. Duggan received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. She identifies her research interests as modern U.S. culture, social and political history, as well as the history of gender and sexuality, and lesbian and gay studies. Her works include “Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and American Modernity,” “The Incredible Shrinking Public: Sexual Politics and the Decline of Democracy,” and “The Twilight of Equality?” She is also co-editor of “Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and National Interest,” as well as “Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political Culture.” Additionally, Duggan has written two articles on marriage politics published in The Nation Magazine. Currently Duggan is teaching at New York University as a professor of social and cultural analysis.
Voice-
It seems safe to say that Duggan presents the voice of a progressive leftist. Her critique of neoliberalism is well supported, however, does not present the neoliberal voice. Duggan presents neoliberalism as viewed from a leftist position, and therefore the objectives of neoliberalism as actually seen be neoliberals is not included in the book.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
-Is it realistic to expect a unification of the progressive left?
-Is it possible that neoliberalism is not as negative as Duggan suggests?
-What do you think about gay upper class alliances with neoliberals?
-Consider the expression “give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for life” with regard to welfare reform?
-Are we really at a potential turning point for political reform?
Summary #5: “The Twilight of Equality?” Lisa Duggan
“The Twilight of Equality” is an in-depth analysis of the politics in the 1990’s. Throughout the book, Duggan gives a breakdown of the historical perspective of our the economy to the present time to the future in response to gender, sexuality, class and race. In chapter 1 in which she titles “Downsizing Democracy”, she talks about the twenty first century being off to a shaky start. Our relation with the middle east in regards to a political war has put the lives of many civilians on the line. Government actions such as increases in military spending, budget cuts for social services and public welfare has increased instability in the U.S. However, this instability has given U.S. a fresh new look at the politics of equality and democracy. There are more opportunities for a global peace movement today that gives hope to an equitable and democratic world. Duggan furthermore talks about capitalism, and to quote the New York Times, says “capitalists could actually bring down capitalism.” She also mentions how Liberalism is a mystery where many of the inequalities of wealth and power of class, sexuality, race and gender are all hidden under capitalism. However Liberalism has another side to it that makes sense where they try to build organizations to support their beliefs. Recently there have been many neoliberal welfare reforms.
Furthermore, Duggan argues that Neoliberalism structures material and political life in relation to race, gener and sexuality intertwined with economic class and nationality or ethnicity. The early nineteenth century was the pivotal time for liberalism in the U.S. From liberal theorists such as Adam Smith, and John Lock, the concept of public vs. private have remained the same. The most publicly known Liberalism is the “proper” location of publicness while the most private is within the family. In the nineteenth century racial slavery and political equality of white men were two of the many innovations adapted in the Anglo-European Liberalism. In neoliberal conversation, married women were automatically assumed to be the home-maker taking care of the children and dependent on the bread winner- wage earning husbands.
In the middle part of her book, Duggan talks about her experience at New York University and the controversy issues of “sex wars” which occurred in the late 70’s to late 80’s. At the university there was controversy over the topic of sexuality in a women’s studies conference which led to many debates and voices being heard. This outbreak was one of the flaws that women have in freedom. The “Revolting Behavior” conference held at SUNY New Paltz occurred in order to be an outline for the “culture wars”. The negative view on this conference was that the statewide public thought that tuition for the university were going into the “pockets of sexual perverts”. Education in New York and in the U.S. focused their direction to privatize education by decreasing funds to support higher education and focus more on private business needs.
The tragic occurrence of 9/11 has brought about new light to the community of gays and lesbians. There was greater recognition and agreement to the gay population. There were more efforts towards sexual minorities, and acceptance of diversity. This movement towards more diversity also brought about “equality politics” which also brought about “equality feminism”, and gay “normality”. Since September 11th, the inclusion of marriage and the military for gays has grown. The Human Rights Campaign and the National Coalition of AntiViolence have been two organizations in fighting for gay rights in the political field.
In her last part of the book, Duggan titles the last chapter “Love and Money.” In this chapter she talks about “making peace with neoliberalism.” Duggan writes that as we continually stand on economic grounds alone, we will fail. It is through care, love, and the “egalitarian circulation of money” that will pave the ways towards a equal political world. In this day and age, Duggan has strategies to redistribute wealth and power, and how to live in this society to make it a better place.
Topics to Discuss:
• Why did Duggan decide to have a question mark at the end of her title?
• Do you agree with Duggan’s view on how the neoliberal revolution has advanced?
• Will we ever get to a democratic and egalitarian order?
• What do you think of economic and cultural leftists?
How to Read:
About the Author:
Lisa Duggan is an associates professor at New York University. She teaches American Studies and history. She is currently working on a book about Senator Jesse Helms and U.S. political culture. She is the author of various books such as Sex wars: Sexual Dissent and Political Cultures, Sapphic Slashers :Sex Violence and American Modernity.
About the text:
The book is full of historical facts leading up to the present time. Duggan incorporates a lot of her insights bouncing off many facts about the economy and neoliberalism. It was hard to follow her opinion due to the fact that she uses many facts and her views together. Her views are very strong and profound.
Violated Assumptions:
1. How much the neoliberal revolution has evinced
2. How racial and gender inequities are connected to neoliberalism
3. The notion of a left wing movement
4. Capitalism is cruel.
THE TWIGHLIGHT OF EQUALITY
Lisa Duggan in the Twighlight of Equality details the affects of neo-liberal policies and globalization has had in the twentieth century. She speaks of the eroding democracy in our country beginning with the slow chipping away of our civil rights and any equality based laws.
Neo liberal policies have empowered the wealthiest and transnational corporations have expanded to other impoverished countries to bleed them out of their resources for their own profits. She explains the policy that has taken the U.S to war with Iraq for the sake of oil and imperialism.
Duggan recounts the commentaries made by Conservatives in blaming gays, feminist and the ACLU for causing September 11. Conservatives were attacking multiculturalism as the main conspirator in September 11, giving white supremacy carte blanche to continue their discriminatory practices even more so with the assistance of the White House.
Duggan also presents the argument of masculinization nationalism after Sept 11th. The personification of male heroism during Sept 11th included only firefighters, police officers, and the military; there is no mention of others that lost their lives especially women. The disaster that globalization and neo-liberalism has had on identity politics has been unparalleled. Duggan explains the effect it has had on the social movement but it hasn’t been enough to stop neo-liberal advocates. She encompasses policies that have eroded equality, feminism, reproductive rights, social activism, and gay rights and the economic disparity between rich and poor around the world.
How to Read guidelines:
When reading Twighlight of Equality I could recall many of the political downturn she writes over that has lead us into a darker outcome. The economic fall of the United States can be blamed on the neo-liberal policies the U.S has engaged in the last 20 years. Many countries have suffered from these policies and view the U.S as an imperialist trying to steal the resources of others for their own greedy consumption. For Latin Americans we see Mexico as an example, the U.S exploits the people of Mexico in Mexico as well as in the U.S. They steal their resources with these transnational companies and then implement these restrictive policies on immigration to keep them from coming to the U.S.
Duggan does understand the mass opposition to neo-liberalism in South and Latin America and how there is a new force in the social movement working diligently to make this voice heard.
Discussion Questions:
I’m always wondering why Americans cannot see what is happening around the world because of neo-liberalism?
VIOLATED ASSUMPTIONS:
1.The concern with morality in conservative politics is a manifestation of religious
views.
2. Achieving “Equal Rights” is a central goal among all leftists.
3. The U.S. grants loans to impoverished countries to help them succeed.
4. Progressive leftists value different views/focuses within the movement.
5. The right to privacy/private life is a right that furthers freedoms for all
Americans.
challenges the reader’s perception that the United States is the land of the free and equal. Duggan begins the book by historically showing how neoliberalism began and how its agenda has evolved. The neoliberalism movement began with white male suffrage and the battle of what should be kept in the “public” and “private” sphere. Neoliberalists believe that business should be kept in the private sphere along with welfare reform. They believe that by doing so tax cuts can occur and through volunteer and charity of people to take on the poor the money will make its way to the people anyways. This is not always the case. By keeping business in the private sphere a few can control a large majority of business within the US and patriarchal systems of power can be kept in place. A neoliberalism system would have women continue to stay in the home and raise children to be productive individuals in society. As for marriage and sexuality they believe that it should be kept in the public sphere and gay and interracial marriage in this way may be patrolled. In the late 1990s the neoliberalism agenda can be seen at work when the SUNY New Paltz campus was attacked after hosting a women studies conference which focused on sexuality. The conference was tabbed as being perverted but upon further inspection it was just one of many public institutions under fire since the election of George Pataki in 1995 who wanted to limit public institutions to allow tax cuts and make New York more business friendly. This form of attack on sex especially when related to females or being gay is part of the “culture wars” occurring found especially on college campuses. In the late 1990s and after 9/11 a shift in the neoliberalism agenda was occurring which was more open and accepting of gays. While seeming like a step in the right direction this movement was to protect the group from criticism and to push conservative-gay politics. At this time though while the US was bombing Afghanistan a bomb being loaded into a plane read “Hijack this fags” showing the little progress which had actually occurred. Neoliberalism works globally and uses markets to compete and gain power and wealth. During changes in social reform neoliberalism adapts and for reforms such as female reproductive rights they were able to support by privatizing reproductive rights. Neoliberalist due to their ties to high powers such as the White House are able to adapt to changing times and anticipate changes in the population and will continue to do so.
Lisa Duggan is an associate professor of American Studies and History at New York University. Other books in which she has written include, “The invention of heterosexuality”, “Caught Looking: Feminism, Pornography, and Censorship”, “Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political Culture.” These books all seem to have underlying similar themes of race, class, and sexuality. The book was very informative and the author did not stray from using terminology which was not understood by the everyday person. For this reason while informative the book had a somewhat snobby tone. I believe that many of her ideas would be considered “radical” but while reading them they seemed fresh and needed. I found the inclass discusion to be very enlightening because I did not realize how much these systems affect me, especially education and that I can make a difference. I also am challenged due to our converstation to stay informed more about the choices being made about my future.
Topics of Discussion:
1.How would a non-neoliberlism system of power work, how would a system of government without capitalism look?
2.If you visit the website www.theyrule.net how can you relate what you find to neoliberalism?
3.How does the neoliberalist system related to business function as if it is invisible? What are the benefits of this?
Summary
The introduction of Lisa Duggan’s The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy is a text that is a mere 88 pages and seeks to explore what has influenced the change from social welfare reform to military and security being top priority in America. The first chapter, “Downsizing Democracy” uses a lot of language that seeks to elicit fear in the readers, terminology such as, “dangerous and unchanging” or “dangerous and tragic start” when referring to modern American society and its politics. It sets the tone for the text to appear to be another warning to the oblivious American public about the negative changes and effects that it is having on our freedoms domestically and power and perception globally. It continues to discuss the notion of public and private spheres and how its reconstructed American values during the 1950s and 1960s conservative and liberal politics. It also discusses statistics on the disproportionate amount of black inmates in contrast to U.S. population and how declining profits, scandals within corporations and the government are signals of the current crisis among neolibearlism. The second chapter, “The Incredibly Shrinking Public” begins discussing the sex war debate that occurred from the 1970s to the 1990s as a result of Revolting Behavior annual conference and ultra conservative propaganda. The third chapter, “Equality, Inc.” examines the post September 11th actions such as not giving allowing domestic partners to receive benefits of 9/11 relief funds and further explores lgbt marriage and gay politics as the country shifts more towards left wing conservatism as a whole. The final chapter, “Love and Money” examines the positive outlook on our economy and public policy at the beginning of the 1990s. It also points out the narrowing of perspectives, such as progressive thinking and activism becoming below the radar. As well as emergence of dichotomies in influencing governmental and citizen positions, such as the war on terrorism.
About the Author
Lisa Duggan is the Director of the American studies department at NYU and a professor Gender and Sexuality studies. She’s written several other books including, Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the National Interest and Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and the American Modernity. She graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 1992 with a PhD. Unlike other authors read in this class, information is not abundant on her, and mostly resonates from the NYU website.
About the Book and Publisher
The book was published in 2003 which did not allow for a complete analysis of post September 11th actions, because the consequences were still being molded. The book was published by Beacon Press a company based out of Boston, Massachusetts. The company is owned by the Unitarian Universalist Association. The company prides itself in publishing serious fiction and non-fiction, including classics such as James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son.
Discussion Questions
1. Same sex partnership exclusion from 9/11 relief fund.
2. New Deal and Civil Rights Movement being considered one in the same.
3. Is neoliberalism truly responsible for all the changes suggested in the last four decades
Violated Assumptions
1. Same sex domestic parternerships were excluded from relief funds for 9/11.
2. New Deal and Civil Rights Movements were lumped together by conservatives, although many ND programs were not accessible to minorities.
3. That support for candidates on sole legislative issues such as support of Roe v. Wade regardless of the rest of politicians record is a new phenomenon.
In the introduction, Duggan argues that politics have become neoliberal – while politics operate under the guise of promoting social change or social stability, in reality, she argues, politicians have failed to make the connection between economic and social/cultural issues. She uses historical background to prove the claim that economic and social issues can be separated from each other is false. For example, she discusses neoliberal attempts to be “multicultural,” but points out that economic resources are constantly redistributed upward. Neoliberal politics, she argues, has only reinforced and increased the divide between economic and social political issues.
After the introduction, Duggan focuses on a specific topic in each chapter: downsizing democracy, the incredible shrinking public, equality, and love and money. In the first chapter (downsizing democracy), she argues that through violent imperial assertion in the Middle East, budget cuts in social services, and disillusionments in political divides, “capitalists could actually bring down capitalism” (p. 2). Because neoliberal politicians wish to save neoliberalism by reforming it, she argues that proposing alternate visions and ideas have been blocked. Duggan provides historical background that help the reader connect early nineteenth century U.S. legislation (regarding voting rights and slavery) to perpetuated institutional prejudices.
In chapter 2, Duggan discusses an annual conference held at Barnard College in 1982 regarding women’s sexual freedom, and how it became a widely publicized controversy. She explains that by 1997, these types of conferences became “routine,” so the public eye no longer focused on them, therefore “unexpected attention” became focused on a conference in 1997 at SUNY (p. 23). When a conservative trustee of SUNY attended the conference and became “disturbed” by the conference workshops and presentations, she alerted SUNY chancellor John Ryan, a group of political figures worked to have the President at that SUNY campus removed. A panel set up by Ryan protected Bowen and the campus on the grounds of academic freedom. Professors defending the women’s studies department and the conferences asserted that the controversy was a result of backlash against the feminist movement. Duggan argues that mainstream reporting framed the controversy as a battle of “culture wars” on college campuses. She argues that this left out the larger political and economic (conservative) context in which the debate occurred.
In the third chapter, Duggan discusses the tragedy of 9/11, and how the tragedy appeared to shift public attitude toward lesbian and gay Americans towards greater acceptance. However, she notes, public acceptance was already highest for gays and lesbians who seemed “assimiliated, [and] gender appropriate” (p. 44). She discusses HRC as an assimiliation gay and lesbian rights organization which failed to recognize the connection between different kinds of sexual freedom when it endorsed an anti abortion candidate. She argues that gay activism has often been confused as single issue, or in some cases, been pushed as a single issue, when equality cannot be single-issued.
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