Abstract:This paper assesses the extent to which the category of hope assists in preserving and redefining the vestiges of utopian thought in critical social theory. Hope has never had a systematic position among the categories of critical social theory, although it has sometimes acquired considerable prominence. It will be argued that the current philosophical and everyday interest in social hope can be traced to the limited capacity of liberal conceptions of freedom to articulate a vision of social transformation app… Show more
“…The concept of social hope is fundamental to many versions of critical social theory and to utopian philosophizing in particular (e.g., Bloch, ; Browne, ; Levitas, ; Morgan, ; Rorty, ). As in Gramsci's notion of “optimism of the will,” collective experiences of hope are thought to link subjective and objective processes of reality construction, ideology, and praxis:The hope I am concerned with is not merely an attitude, or a mood, or a feeling—all of which emphasize its subjective side.…”
Section: A Social Psychological Framework For Studying the Effects Ofmentioning
We present an integrative theoretical model that specifies social psychological mechanisms by which utopian thinking, which activates the social imagination, may enhance collective action intentions oriented toward social change and human progress. The model synthesizes complementary insights from interdisciplinary research programs on utopianism, hope, construal level, and system justification to identify mechanisms by which imagining better societies: (a) increases social hope, (b) yields an abstract mindset that bridges the psychological distance between the status quo (“here and now”) and a better possible future, (c) decreases system justification motivation, and (d) promotes social justice‐oriented forms of collective action.
“…The concept of social hope is fundamental to many versions of critical social theory and to utopian philosophizing in particular (e.g., Bloch, ; Browne, ; Levitas, ; Morgan, ; Rorty, ). As in Gramsci's notion of “optimism of the will,” collective experiences of hope are thought to link subjective and objective processes of reality construction, ideology, and praxis:The hope I am concerned with is not merely an attitude, or a mood, or a feeling—all of which emphasize its subjective side.…”
Section: A Social Psychological Framework For Studying the Effects Ofmentioning
We present an integrative theoretical model that specifies social psychological mechanisms by which utopian thinking, which activates the social imagination, may enhance collective action intentions oriented toward social change and human progress. The model synthesizes complementary insights from interdisciplinary research programs on utopianism, hope, construal level, and system justification to identify mechanisms by which imagining better societies: (a) increases social hope, (b) yields an abstract mindset that bridges the psychological distance between the status quo (“here and now”) and a better possible future, (c) decreases system justification motivation, and (d) promotes social justice‐oriented forms of collective action.
“…Operating as ‘visions of hope’ (McKenna, 2001), it is suggested that utopian ideas can serve to cultivate new ‘movements of hope’ (Fournier, 2002). Confronted with contemporary suffering and injustice, utopianism is widely heralded as a means of recapturing the category of hope for critical social theory (Anderson, 2006; Browne, 2005).…”
This article outlines a framework for exploring the relationship between hope and utopia. Hope is conceptualised as a socially mediated human capacity that can be experienced in different modes. A taxonomy of modes of hoping is presented. This differentiates between non‐utopian (‘estimative’ and ‘resolute’), anti‐utopian (‘patient’) and utopian (‘critical’ and ‘transformative’) modes of hoping. When critical or transformative hope predominates within the collective emotional orientation of a society, it is suggested that utopian ideas are likely to thrive both as a product and a source of hope. A contemporary utopian politics thus requires the institutions of social life to be reconstituted so that they once again foster critical and transformative hope.
“…The literature on each of these points is now prolific; however, for work on the polarisation of inequality see Harvey (2007); on the 'mediapolis', Silverstone (2007); on new forms of exclusion, Waquant (2007); on de-democratisation, Brown (2003); and on the corporatisation of higher education, see the excellent bibliography at Storm Breaking upon the University (http://stormbreaking.blogspot.com/) 5. For other accounts of the 'crisis of hope' in late-capitalist society, see Bauman (2004), Browne (2005), Giroux (2004Giroux ( , 2007, Habermas (1989), Harvey (2005), Jameson (2004and Zournazi (2002. 6.…”
While the need for humanising education is pressing in neoliberal societies, the conditions for its possibility in formal institutions have become particularly cramped. A constellation of factors -the strength of neoliberal ideologies, the corporatisation of universities, the conflation of human freedom with consumer satisfaction and a wider crisis of hope in the possibility or desirability of social change -make it difficult to apply classical theories of subject-transformation to new work in critical pedagogy. In particular, the growth of interest in pedagogies of comfort (as illustrated in certain forms of 'therapeutic' education and concerns about student 'satisfaction' in universities) and resistance to critical pedagogies suggest that subjectivty has become a primary site of political struggle in education. However, it can no longer be assumed that educators can (or should) liberate students' repressed desires for humanisation by politicising curricula, pedagogy or institutions. Rather, we must work to understand the new meanings and affective conditions of critical subjectivity itself. Bringing critical theories of subject transformation together with new work on 'pedagogies of discomfort', I suggest we can create new ways of opening up possibilities for critical education that respond to neoliberal subjectivities without corresponding to or affirming them.
The hope of education and the contradictions of capitalism, then and nowIn British education, parenting classes and the SureStart and Connexions strategies blur boundaries between teaching, welfare and applications of therapy, while psychological assessments for young people deemed to be 'at risk' embed therapeutic techniques and assumptions in guidance and teaching. . . . Yet, a therapeutic ethos reaches much further than this: it offers a new sensibility, a cultural vocabulary, explanations and underlying assumptions about appropriate feelings and responses to events, and a set of associated practices through which people make sense of themselves and others . . . (Ecclestone & Hayes, 2009, p. 379) We, working in British academia, are in a paradoxical historical moment. There are increasing social inequalities, exclusions, violence and state control coupled not with an upsurge of collective political struggles, as we might once have expected, but with an eerie depoliticisation, decomposition of collectivity and erosion of both the desire for, and belief in, social and political change. (Motta, under review, p. 1)The new sensibility has become a political factor. This event, which may well indicate a turning point in contemporary societies, demands that critical theory incorporate the new *
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