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Chapter 2 - Feelings against Reason

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2018

Joachim C. Häberlen
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
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Summary

The chapter explores the political imagination of the alternative left during the 1970s and argues that leftists fundamentally reimagined the political map. According to their political thinking, the dominating forces of capitalist rationality structured all aspects of life, leaving no space for feelings, dreams, desires, or fantasies. As forces that might destabilize the rationally ordered world, feelings and desires were, according to leftist thinking, inherently subversive. The chapter first investigates the logic behind this thinking, drawing on theorists popular amongst leftists, such as Gilles Deleuze and Herbert Röttgen. Second, the chapter inquires how leftists mapped their political world, whom they regarded as potential allies in the struggle against rationality, and whom they considered enemies. It discusses the odd alliances that leftists imagined in their struggle against a predominantly male and adult rationality: women, children, and the insane, amongst others. Third, it asks about the remapping's implications, showing how leftists developed a ‘politics of the first person’. Finally, the chapter looks at critics of the ‘politics of irrationality’ within the alternative left.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Emotional Politics of the Alternative Left
West Germany, 1968–1984
, pp. 76 - 122
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Feelings against Reason
  • Joachim C. Häberlen, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Emotional Politics of the Alternative Left
  • Online publication: 20 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108559201.003
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  • Feelings against Reason
  • Joachim C. Häberlen, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Emotional Politics of the Alternative Left
  • Online publication: 20 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108559201.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Feelings against Reason
  • Joachim C. Häberlen, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Emotional Politics of the Alternative Left
  • Online publication: 20 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108559201.003
Available formats
×