> from emancipation from material
> oppression. I don't think Boltanski is just describing a shift in the
> object of critique of the avant garde. I think he is criticizing it as
> well. Perhaps I am wrong. I hope so.
Hi Rakesh-
I pulled down the _Thesis Eleven_ essay, which seems a bit artless to me: a highly compressed synopsis of his book, with the bit about reproductive revolution tacked on at the end. It's as if he felt compelled to update "The Test of the Artistic Critique" so he could claim a "revival" there as well.
It seems like his separation you mention is intentional:
"But their intensity appears to be linked to the self-constitution of groups around new identities such as feminism, particularly in its radical form, centred upon the question of repro- duction. This is opposed to that which, in the United States, is called equality feminism, based on the demand for non-discrimination at work and for equal pay." (p. 17)
I found myself asking where his very interesting observation about the relation between specific and general alienation went, it even being explained by an historical reference to feminism:
"Pregnancy and lesser body strength were the physical bases that made social oppression possible - hence the signifcance of liberating oneself from the generic alienation via the Pill and abortion in order to abolish the specific alienation." (pp. 434-5)
But do I understand your more general question? That Boltanski might be guilty of left conservatism through his criticism of the sexual revolution, which he sees as "free" from any material basis?
He ends the essay:
"However, these effects are wholly compatible with the maintenance of property rights under their present form and with the expansion of global capitalism. Various indicators even lead one to think that the effects of total revolution in the domain of reproduction might even benefit capitalism’s expansion."
...or from the abstract:
"On the one hand, there are the social concerns and the critiques of capitalism, which, however, are no longer ori- ented towards total revolution. On the other hand, there are expectations that are still turned towards total revolution, but have been shifted towards the exi- gency of a revolution in the order of reproduction and of sexuality and, thus, have dissociated themselves from the critique of capitalism."
So it seems he thinks the "revival of the social critique" is governed by a spirit of accommodation, and the "revival of the artistic critique" has been completely subsumed by the capitalist machinery.
Best, Charles