The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy

We’ve now all heard about the shocking redistribution of wealth—to the rich—that’s occurred during the last thirty years, and particularly during the last decade. But economic changes like this don’t occur in a vacuum; they’re always linked to politics, to ideas about things like the proper role of government, what is natural and unnatural, good and bad, and what we imagine for our country and ourselves.

The Twilight of Equality searches out these links through an analysis of the politics of the 1990s, the decade when neoliberalism—free market economics—became gospel. Through a series of political case studies, Duggan shows how neoliberal goals have been pursued through racial codes, populist campaigns, culture wars, and sex panics–demonstrating conclusively that progressive arguments that separate identity politics and economic policy, cultural politics and affairs of state, can only fail.

This is a book for intellectuals and activists, gay and straight, interested in how the highly successful rhetorical maneuvers of neoliberalism have functioned and seeking a way to revitalize and unify progressive politics in the U.S. today.