Change! (in moderation): Labourism, Starmer and the conjuncture
Soundings - ISSN 1362-6620
Volume 2024 Number 87
Change! (in moderation): Labourism, Starmer and the conjuncture
John Clarke pages 147-161
DOI: 10.3898/SOUN:87.08.2024
Abstract
This article approaches the rise of a Starmer-led Labour Party as part of the unfolding current conjuncture. It begins from the fragmentation of the electoral alliance around the Conservatives that had for a long time sustained the dominant bloc in the face of proliferating crises and conflicts. It then turns to the question of Labourism and explores what Starmer’s leadership adds to the familiar mixture of co-option and containment of popular disaffection and desire. Four themes stand out: fiscal realism; a ‘value-led’ project; Starmer’s version of managerialism; and the celebration of ‘working people’. At the same time, an emergent set of antagonisms, operating internationally, not least through multiple diasporas, are reworking familiar Labour tensions around ‘race’. Finally, the article returns to wider framings of the conjuncture, through Gramsci’s idea of ‘passive revolution’ and Hart’s exploration of the dominant political responses to popular antagonisms.
SORRY - you are not registered as being permitted online access to the full text of this article
You have the following options:
- If you are viewing this via an institution or academic library you can ask that your institution takes out a Subscription to this journal.
- If you already have a Personal Subscription please login below
Forgotten your username / password? Click here to locate
- Purchase an annual Personal Subscription
PRINT + DIGITAL personal subscription (£40 / year)
DIGITAL personal subscription (£30 / year)
A Personal Subscription provides immediate access not only to the single article you are seeking, but also to all past and future articles in this journal up to the expiry of your annual (calendar year) subscription. - Purchase immediate access to this single article (UK£7.00) - Buy article Coming Soon
To cite this article
John Clarke (2024) Change! (in moderation): Labourism, Starmer and the conjuncture, Soundings, 2024(87), 147-161. https://doi.org/10.3898/SOUN:87.08.2024