Throughout his career as an intellectual historian and social critic Christopher Lasch (1932-94) explored the consequences of technocratic progressivism and cultural radicalism for 20th century American life. Seemingly at odds, these two currents converged in a therapeutic ideology that legitimated modern corporate capitalism, gutting the civic realm as a site of democratic participation and subjecting the private sphere to new forms of expert control. In charting these developments Lasch drew on the American democratic radical tradition, the Freudo-Marxism of the Frankfurt School, and ultimately a politics “beyond left and right” he identified with the legacy of nineteenth-century Populism. By the time he published The True and Only Heaven (1991) Lasch had made a “religious turn,” advancing a post-Protestant ethic of limits and gratitude against the consumerist stimulation of endless desire and false promises of technological mastery. Written at the end of his life, “The Revolt of the Elites” is a fitting conclusion to Lasch's searing critique of elites on the right and left who have withdrawn from the common life of their fellow citizens.

Join Professor Casey Blake (History) for a discussion on his mentor, Christopher Lasch, and his ever-relevant commentaries on present-day America.

This seminar is part of our Fall 2023 series Meritocracy and Its Discontents.