Eliane Glaser
Author of Anti-Politics: On the Demonization of Ideology, Authority and the State
About the Author
Eliane Glaser is a writer and BBC radio broadcaster. She is a senior lecturer at Bath Spa University and a research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of Get Real: How to See Through the Hype, Spin and Lies of Modern Life (2012), and writes for The Guardian, The New show more Statesman and The Independent. show less
Works by Eliane Glaser
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The populist right have marshalled public anger against the real elites – corporate and financial power – and turned it onto those who represent us in Parliament, uphold our rights, treat us when we’re sick, and create and curate the best books, art and ideas. Culture and education have been made into symbolic arenas of ‘democratization’ while gross inequality remains intact.
Meanwhile, liberals have lost their nerve, accepting the anti-elitism slur at face value. But social privilege is not the same thing as excellence. For too long conservatives have had a monopoly on upholding standards of beauty and truth. But now that they’ve become ruthless modernisers, it’s time for progressives to take on that task. This book provides the ammunition for a timely rebuttal.
I do think she's right that the majority of academics, journos, and artists have terrible working conditions, and the right misrepresents Guardian columnists as falsely representative of these knowledge workers and effaces the real elites, the capitalist class. I also appreciate her defense of standards of value in aesthetics and her references to William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Mark Fisher, & al.
An interesting read.… (more)
Meanwhile, liberals have lost their nerve, accepting the anti-elitism slur at face value. But social privilege is not the same thing as excellence. For too long conservatives have had a monopoly on upholding standards of beauty and truth. But now that they’ve become ruthless modernisers, it’s time for progressives to take on that task. This book provides the ammunition for a timely rebuttal.
I do think she's right that the majority of academics, journos, and artists have terrible working conditions, and the right misrepresents Guardian columnists as falsely representative of these knowledge workers and effaces the real elites, the capitalist class. I also appreciate her defense of standards of value in aesthetics and her references to William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Mark Fisher, & al.
An interesting read.… (more)
I wanted to like this book a lot - it's 'my sort of book' ; a challenge to conventional wisdom,a spotlight on the spin that invidiously defines the modern world. But ultimately, it under-delivers. Neither "quite brilliant" (Dame Jenni Murray) nor "laid out with precision, grace and urgency" (Zoe Williams) - it's ironic that the dust jacket is an example of the very symptoms that Glaser critiques.
She themes each chapter (Politics, Social Mobility, Health, The Web, Media) and sets out to tell the 'truth' behind the ideology we're offered. Then fails to do so. What could have been a passionate call-to-arms is instead a sustained whinge about a lot of things she doesn't like, and a few things she does (but feels guilty about).
Glaser has obviously read widely around each of her themes and quotes readily. But her sources have thought and written more deeply , so you're better off reading the original material for a real workout.… (more)
She themes each chapter (Politics, Social Mobility, Health, The Web, Media) and sets out to tell the 'truth' behind the ideology we're offered. Then fails to do so. What could have been a passionate call-to-arms is instead a sustained whinge about a lot of things she doesn't like, and a few things she does (but feels guilty about).
Glaser has obviously read widely around each of her themes and quotes readily. But her sources have thought and written more deeply , so you're better off reading the original material for a real workout.… (more)
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An example from my own experience: I recently went to an academic conference run by geographers, as there were plenty of sessions relevant to my own research. When I attended presentations, I was fascinated to find that geographers set out the theories that their work is grounded in before proceeding to methods and results. In my own discipline, applied economics, no-one does this, because economics only has one set of theories that everyone uses. There is no need to state that, ‘My econometric methods assumed that market participants were rational actors with perfect information who maximised their utility’ because it is always implicit. Unless you are specifically studying behavioural economics, these assumptions will be hidden behind your quantitative work, unspoken. Such assumptions are, of course, deeply stupid and widely debunked. Nonetheless, they remain unspoken and absolutely ubiquitous. I admired the geographers for stating their choice of theory up front - such a basic thing, but so important.
Returning to this book, Glaser examines various ways in which false consciousness prevails in the UK. She writes lucidly and intelligently, so a selection of quotes should give you a flavour:
That’s rather an arbitrary selection, as Glaser also includes excellent commentary on greenwash, the food industry, and reality TV, amongst other topics. Throughout, the book calls for a return to ideology, or rather for a return to honest discussion of ideology. It hasn’t gone away, just hidden itself by pretending to be scientific fact. Glaser doesn’t claim to espouse a specific ideology herself, although there are a lot of Marxist/Marxisant writers in her reading list. The point of the book is to highlight the need for clarity and debate, which it does very effectively. It’s an intelligent, galvanising read that I recommend.… (more)