New Books in Critical Theory

Matthew McManus, "The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity" (Routledge, 2023)

Sep 13, 2023

Matthew McManus, an intellectual historian of the conservative and reactionary tradition, presents an intellectual history of the political right, tracing its core to a nostalgia for hierarchical cosmos. He argues for a better understanding of the right's critiques towards equality and freedom. McManus suggests that hostility to equality unites the right and explores perspectives on what it means to be on the political right, the fusion of capitalism and social conservatism in the American right, the distinction between the political right and the far right, and the origins and development of liberal socialism.

30:45

Episode guests

Matthew McManus

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Quick takeaways

The political right's admiration for orderly political and social stratification stems from a nostalgia for an hierarchical societal structure.

The contemporary rise of right-wing forces can be attributed to a shared hostility towards the quest for equality and freedom.

Deep dives

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Introduction

3min

The Belief in Superiority and Entitlement

9min

The Fusion of Capitalism and Social Conservatism in the American Right

5min

The Distinction Between the Political Right and the Far Right

10min

The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism

3min

McManus presents an intellectual history of the conservative and reactionary tradition, stretching from Aristotle and Filmer to Alexander Dugin and Patrick Deneen.

Providing a comprehensive critical genealogy of the intellectual political right, McManus traces its core to a nostalgia for the hierarchical cosmos of antiquarian and scholastic thinking. The yearning for a shared vision of the universe where each part of reality has its place maps onto the conservative admiration for orderly political and social stratification. It stamps even the more moderate forms of liberal conservatism which emerged in the aftermath of the revolutionary 18th century, as the political right struggled to accept and later master first the politics of liberal capitalism and later universal suffrage. In its most radical forms this nostalgia for an orderly and hierarchical existence can harden into a resentment at the perceived shallowness of liberal modernity. McManus argues for those who support the project of modernity to commit themselves to better understanding the depth of the political right’s critiques, many of which expose uncomfortable but solvable problems with the quest for equality and freedom.

While there are a lot of competing explanations for the contemporary rise of right-wing forces, Matt McManus’ new book suggests that it is hostility to equality that actually unites the right. Zeroing in on key intellectuals and writers, McManus, in a sharply written text, offers a compelling explanation for the disproportionate intensity of right-wing grievance politics

Matthew McManus is a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Michigan. He is a contributor to Jacobin and Quillette online magazines.

Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel.

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