Resigned left's melancholy

Reflections on reformism and neoliberalism

Abstract

We present a diagnosis, suggested by political scientist Jodi Dean, according to which the psychoanalytic category of “melancholy” can be used to interpret the resignation of certain segments of the left subjected to Western capitalism. So, we took it as an analytical reference to rehearse, in association with the field of political economy, a historical interpretation of three moments of the recent trajectory of the class struggle — the rise of the post-war welfare state, its fall and the neoliberal austerity program —, reflecting on the places that a certain left has been occupying throughout them. We are guided by the hypothesis that the positions of social-democratic “reformism” and “left-wing neoliberalism” are examples of resignation, to varying degrees, to the capitalist structure and the dominant ideology. Our objective is to reflect on challenges to the assumption of a revolutionary world conception in politics, introducing the psychoanalytic concept of melancholy as a relevant theoretical reference for analysis on this theme — a debate that is also situated in the field of political subjectivation