Austerity and the Public Role of Drama: Performing Lives-In-Common (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783030032593)

This book asks what, if any, public role drama might play under Project Austerity - an intensification phase of contemporary liberal political economy. It investigates the erosion of public life in liberal democracies, and critiques the attention economy of deficit culture, by which austerity erodes life-in-common in favour of narcissistic performances of life-in-public. It argues for a social order committed to human flourishing and deliberative democracy, as a counterweight to the political economy of austerity. It demonstrates, using examples from England, Ireland, Italy, and the USA, that drama and the academy pursue shared humane concerns; the one, a critical art form, the other, a social enabler of critical thought and progressive ideas. A need for dialogue with emergent forms of collective consciousness, new democratic practices and institutions, shapes a manifesto for critical performance, which invites universities and cultural workers to join other social actors in imaginingand enabling ethical lives-in-common.


Author: Victor Merriman
ISBN-10: 3030032590
ISBN-13: 9783030032593
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
Language: English
Published: 02/26/2019
Pages: 175
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.83lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.50d