Resisting neoliberal capitalism in Chile: The possibility of social critique

Abstract

In Resisting Neoliberal Capitalism in Chile, Juan Pablo Rodriguez approaches the intellectual production of social movements with renewed vigour. The book proposes the concept ‘critique in movements’ to analyse the dynamics of resistance and opposition in student activism and housing movements (pobladores) in Chile during the last decade. The book is divided into two parts. In the first, Rodriguez develops the concept of ‘social critique,’ exploring contemporary neo-Marxist theory as a social practice capable of criticizing capitalism. Drawing on thinkers like Axel Honneth, David Harvey, Fredric Jameson, and Luc Boltanski, among others, Rodriguez argues that the social critique elaborated by critical theorists can challenge the hegemony of capital and can open horizons for future transformation. In the second part, Rodriguez introduces the concept of ‘critique in movements’ arguing that social movements are also capable of elaborating and performing a social critique of capitalism. ‘Critique in movements’ describes the intellectual production that movements deploy in order to challenge neoliberalism and to prefigure political alternatives. Theoretically, the concept of critique in movements captures the tensions between a movement’s agency and the resistance of capitalist structures. As Rodriguez argues, movements resist and oppose neoliberalism through a practice of social critique that includes utopian, aesthetic, and normative elements. Empirically, the concept helps to explore how movements actively oppose and resist the commodification of social life and social rights. The concept of critique in movements allows Rodriguez to capture the limitations that social movement theory faces in understanding the processes of identification and conflict that characterized movements during the post-2008 wave of protests. Rodriguez adds to this literature by exploring how renewed critiques of capitalism, informed by Marxist thought and produced by social movements, advance our understanding of social conflict and emancipatory politics. The main