Geoff M Boucher
Biographic Data
| ID | 3891863 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Geoff M Boucher |
| GIVEN NAMES | Geoff M |
| FAMILY NAME | Boucher |
| SIGNATURE | BOUCHER G M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Deakin University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2768-9958 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Digital Tech Broligarchy’s Interest in Left-Wing Science Fiction
A slew of recent articles has asked what the connection might be between right-wing libertarian Silicon Valley billionaires and left-wing science fiction, especially the fiction of Iain M. Banks, the declared reading preference of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman. Bank’s Culture novels create a Rococo utopia that justifies social dislocation and political authoritarianism in the present, licensing and legitimating it under th…
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality brings Theodor Adorno’s theory up to date in light of the New Authoritarianism, recent authoritarian propaganda and current findings about authoritarian personalities. Drawing on the work of Slavoj Zizek and the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, the book applies psychoanalytic theory to the problem of the authoritarian personality, revising the classical theory of the Frankfurt School. It explores …
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality
Analyses the resurgence of the radical Right and the psychodynamic basis of authoritarian politics Updates the thinking of Theodor Adorno in light of the work of Slavoj Zizek Presents a psychoanalytic theory of authoritarian propaganda Explores authoritarian dystopias as templates for terrorism The worldwide resurgence of authoritarianism has sparked renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality, not as a topic …
The Civil War II Novel
This article describes radical rightwing dystopian fictions set in near‐future versions of the USA, in which the nature of liberal society, combined with some disastrous catalyst, triggers armed resistance by authoritarian, libertarian, and/or secessionist forces, leading to a Second Civil War. It details the methodology for the selection of our survey sample, then develops a descriptive typology of their narrative trajectories. It summarizes the…
Digital books and the far right
Books are a recognized but insufficiently researched means for dissemination of ideologies, including by far-right violent extremists. Considering that the far-right are early and effective adopters of new communication technology, this article explores how digital publication and circulation of books can both enable and direct a known potential pathway to radicalization to extremism: the ‘intellectual quest’. This article explores the publicatio…
Authoritarian Politics and Conspiracy Fictions
The hypothesis of this article is that, for its adherents, QAnon is truthful, rather than true; that is, it captures their perception of the way things typically happen, rather than picturing what really has happened—and it does this in a way that seems more vivid and complete than actual experience. Why that is the case can be explained in terms of the peculiar nature of fictional representations, combined with the capacity of imaginary worlds, …
Class Politics and the Authoritarian Personality
The resurgence of authoritarianism worldwide has led to renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality. In this article, I clarify the role of that idea in a class-theoretical critique of fascism by showing how it supplements the Marxist analysis. I first outline the Marxist theory of fascism with reference particularly to the puzzles of fascist politics and ideology, before arguing that the authoritarian persona…
Habermas and Literature
Although Habermas has written about the cultural role of literature and about literary works, he has not systematically articulated a literary-critical method as a component of either communicative reason or post-metaphysical thinking. Habermas and Literature brings Habermasian concepts and categories into contact with aesthetic and cultural theories in and around the Frankfurt School, and beyond. Its central claim is that Habermas' contribution …
The Frankfurt School and the authoritarian personality
Frankfurt School critical theory is perhaps the most significant theory of society to have developed directly from a research programme focused on the critique of political authoritarianism, as it manifested during the interwar decades of the 20th century. The Frankfurt School's analysis of the persistent roots - and therefore the perennial nature - of what it describes as the 'authoritarian personality' remains influential in the analysis of aut…
Death Cults and Dystopian Scenarios
In this article, I investigate the literary representation of the religious convictions and political strategy of neo-Nazi ideologues who are influential in rightwing authoritarian movements in the USA today. The reason that I do this is because in contemporary fascism, the novel has replaced the political manifesto, the military manual and proselytizing testimony, since fiction can evade censorship and avoid prosecution. I read William Luther Pi…
Revolutionary Hope in Dark Times
In this article, I interpret Zizek's recent call to "abandon hope" and embrace the "courage of hopelessness," as a provocation to articulate a new kind of utopia, rather than an endorsement of despair. On Zizek's analysis, progressive hopes are currently directed towards fixing the existing situation, rather than accepting that the things that we hope will not happen are, in fact, about to happen-unless individuals, at last, summon the political …
A Jamesonian theory of theological practice
In a conjuncture marked by the “resurgence of religion,” the problem of historical materialism’s relation to religious ideologies has acquired a new urgency. The work of Roland Boer, recently awarded the Deutscher Prize for his magnum opus on Marxism and Theology poses this question from a surprising perspective. While his main claim is that religious influences in Marxist theory represent a sort of theological unconscious in historical materiali…
An Ideological Conception of Politics—Critique of Zizek on Political Theology
For some time now, Slavoj Zizek has provocatively maintained that the radical left needs a 'politics of universal Truth' whose model is Pauline theology's transformation of the Hellenistic world. Furthermore, in light of the worldwide resurgence of religious militancy after 9/11, Zizek also contends that political theology provides the conceptual resources for thinking historical materialism today. Zizek here represents the leading wing of a 'the…
Financial Crisis, Social Pathologies and 'Generalised Perversion'
Slavoj Zizek's work has been highly influential in the formulation of an emerging consensus among Lacanian social researchers, that we live in a society of generalised perversion whose initial fruits are the corrosion of democracy and the recent financial crisis. This position rests upon a notion of modern subjectivity that connects ‘commodity fetishism’ with clinical perversion in a pathological configuration, so that social theoretical identifi…
The Charmed Circle of Ideology
Mari Ruti, A World of Fragile Things
Enjoyment as an Aesthetic Factor
Slavoj Žižek, Violence
Revolutionary Hope in Dark Times
In this article, I interpret Zizek's recent call to "abandon hope" and embrace the "courage of hopelessness," as a provocation to articulate a new kind of utopia, rather than an endorsement of despair. On Zizek's analysis, progressive hopes are currently directed towards fixing the existing situation, rather than accepting that the things that we hope will not happen are, in fact, about to happen-unless individuals, at last, summon the political …
Digital books and the far right
Books are a recognized but insufficiently researched means for dissemination of ideologies, including by far-right violent extremists. Considering that the far-right are early and effective adopters of new communication technology, this article explores how digital publication and circulation of books can both enable and direct a known potential pathway to radicalization to extremism: the ‘intellectual quest’. This article explores the publicatio…
A Jamesonian theory of theological practice
In a conjuncture marked by the “resurgence of religion,” the problem of historical materialism’s relation to religious ideologies has acquired a new urgency. The work of Roland Boer, recently awarded the Deutscher Prize for his magnum opus on Marxism and Theology poses this question from a surprising perspective. While his main claim is that religious influences in Marxist theory represent a sort of theological unconscious in historical materiali…
The Charmed Circle of Ideology
Slavoj Žižek, Violence
The Charmed Circle of Ideology
Mari Ruti, A World of Fragile Things
Enjoyment as an Aesthetic Factor
Financial Crisis, Social Pathologies and 'Generalised Perversion'
Slavoj Zizek's work has been highly influential in the formulation of an emerging consensus among Lacanian social researchers, that we live in a society of generalised perversion whose initial fruits are the corrosion of democracy and the recent financial crisis. This position rests upon a notion of modern subjectivity that connects ‘commodity fetishism’ with clinical perversion in a pathological configuration, so that social theoretical identifi…
A Jamesonian theory of theological practice
In a conjuncture marked by the “resurgence of religion,” the problem of historical materialism’s relation to religious ideologies has acquired a new urgency. The work of Roland Boer, recently awarded the Deutscher Prize for his magnum opus on Marxism and Theology poses this question from a surprising perspective. While his main claim is that religious influences in Marxist theory represent a sort of theological unconscious in historical materiali…
An Ideological Conception of Politics—Critique of Zizek on Political Theology
For some time now, Slavoj Zizek has provocatively maintained that the radical left needs a 'politics of universal Truth' whose model is Pauline theology's transformation of the Hellenistic world. Furthermore, in light of the worldwide resurgence of religious militancy after 9/11, Zizek also contends that political theology provides the conceptual resources for thinking historical materialism today. Zizek here represents the leading wing of a 'the…
Revolutionary Hope in Dark Times
In this article, I interpret Zizek's recent call to "abandon hope" and embrace the "courage of hopelessness," as a provocation to articulate a new kind of utopia, rather than an endorsement of despair. On Zizek's analysis, progressive hopes are currently directed towards fixing the existing situation, rather than accepting that the things that we hope will not happen are, in fact, about to happen-unless individuals, at last, summon the political …
Habermas and Literature
Although Habermas has written about the cultural role of literature and about literary works, he has not systematically articulated a literary-critical method as a component of either communicative reason or post-metaphysical thinking. Habermas and Literature brings Habermasian concepts and categories into contact with aesthetic and cultural theories in and around the Frankfurt School, and beyond. Its central claim is that Habermas' contribution …
The Frankfurt School and the authoritarian personality
Frankfurt School critical theory is perhaps the most significant theory of society to have developed directly from a research programme focused on the critique of political authoritarianism, as it manifested during the interwar decades of the 20th century. The Frankfurt School's analysis of the persistent roots - and therefore the perennial nature - of what it describes as the 'authoritarian personality' remains influential in the analysis of aut…
Death Cults and Dystopian Scenarios
In this article, I investigate the literary representation of the religious convictions and political strategy of neo-Nazi ideologues who are influential in rightwing authoritarian movements in the USA today. The reason that I do this is because in contemporary fascism, the novel has replaced the political manifesto, the military manual and proselytizing testimony, since fiction can evade censorship and avoid prosecution. I read William Luther Pi…
Authoritarian Politics and Conspiracy Fictions
The hypothesis of this article is that, for its adherents, QAnon is truthful, rather than true; that is, it captures their perception of the way things typically happen, rather than picturing what really has happened—and it does this in a way that seems more vivid and complete than actual experience. Why that is the case can be explained in terms of the peculiar nature of fictional representations, combined with the capacity of imaginary worlds, …
Class Politics and the Authoritarian Personality
The resurgence of authoritarianism worldwide has led to renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality. In this article, I clarify the role of that idea in a class-theoretical critique of fascism by showing how it supplements the Marxist analysis. I first outline the Marxist theory of fascism with reference particularly to the puzzles of fascist politics and ideology, before arguing that the authoritarian persona…
Digital books and the far right
Books are a recognized but insufficiently researched means for dissemination of ideologies, including by far-right violent extremists. Considering that the far-right are early and effective adopters of new communication technology, this article explores how digital publication and circulation of books can both enable and direct a known potential pathway to radicalization to extremism: the ‘intellectual quest’. This article explores the publicatio…
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality brings Theodor Adorno’s theory up to date in light of the New Authoritarianism, recent authoritarian propaganda and current findings about authoritarian personalities. Drawing on the work of Slavoj Zizek and the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, the book applies psychoanalytic theory to the problem of the authoritarian personality, revising the classical theory of the Frankfurt School. It explores …
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality
Analyses the resurgence of the radical Right and the psychodynamic basis of authoritarian politics Updates the thinking of Theodor Adorno in light of the work of Slavoj Zizek Presents a psychoanalytic theory of authoritarian propaganda Explores authoritarian dystopias as templates for terrorism The worldwide resurgence of authoritarianism has sparked renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality, not as a topic …
The Civil War II Novel
This article describes radical rightwing dystopian fictions set in near‐future versions of the USA, in which the nature of liberal society, combined with some disastrous catalyst, triggers armed resistance by authoritarian, libertarian, and/or secessionist forces, leading to a Second Civil War. It details the methodology for the selection of our survey sample, then develops a descriptive typology of their narrative trajectories. It summarizes the…
The Digital Tech Broligarchy’s Interest in Left-Wing Science Fiction
A slew of recent articles has asked what the connection might be between right-wing libertarian Silicon Valley billionaires and left-wing science fiction, especially the fiction of Iain M. Banks, the declared reading preference of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman. Bank’s Culture novels create a Rococo utopia that justifies social dislocation and political authoritarianism in the present, licensing and legitimating it under th…
Sociology (13 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Critical Theory and Philosophy (7 works) · Ideology (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works)