One of those books that seemed to be mentioned repeatedly in podcasts and newspaper reviews, it was actually out of stock at the publisher when I ordered from our local The Grove Bookshop. Clearly I am surfing the zeitgeist.
Firstly, it’s short, just 100 pages or so. Secondly, it’s very much an academic essay of a book (turns out it started as a tweet, then expanded to an article, before being expanded for this edition). I’m actually glad I’d read reviews that had summarised the general thesis as it isn’t the most structured read.
However, it does convey the really interesting idea of politics progressing via mass politics (most of 20th century… deep participation in unions, parties, societies), followed by pos- politics (following the end of history/fall of the Wall… technocratic centrists running the world, lack of interest/engagement). This ran until the 2008 crash when everything went mental, hence anti-politics (protests, anti-elite sentiment, Occupy Wall Street, Trump, Brexit), which has now developed into hyperpolitics.
This term describes the current world of very online, knee jerk, radicalised, fluid, polarised politics. Low engagement in traditional parties but an ever-changing, short-term swarming around drama, culture wars, scandal. Angry coalescence without structure. Social media and 24/7 rolling news are clearly a factor, but so is a general trend of dislocation from real life society meaning online bubbles have higher impact.
How long this period will last, how much more damage it will create, and what follows are all open questions.
