Politics of Divination: Neoliberal Endgame and the Religion of Contingency (Reinventing Critical Theory)

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the neoliberal ideas that arguably caused the damage have been triumphant in presenting themselves as the only possible solution for it. How can we account for the persistence of neoliberal hegemony, in spite of its obviously disastrous effects upon labor, capital, ecology, and society? The argument pursued in this book is that part of the persistence of neoliberalism has to do with the archaic and obscure political theology upon which of much of its discourse trades. This is a political theology of chance that both underwrites and obscures sacrificial devotion to market outcomes. Joshua Ramey structures this political theology around hidden homologies between modern markets, as non-rational randomizing ‘meta-information processors’, and archaic divination tools, which are used in public acts of tradition-bound attempts to interpret the deliverances of chance. Ramey argues that only by recognizing the persistently sacred character of chance within putatively secularized discourses of risk and randomness can the investments of neoliberal power be exposed at their sacred source, and an alternative political theology be constructed. Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Table of Contents 6 Preface 8 1 Within the Endgame 12 2 We Have Always Been Giants 28 3 Divining Neoliberal Order 60 4 Random Chance Providential 88 5 Risking Derivative Politics 120 6 Decolonizing Divination 146 Bibliography 176 Index 184 About the Author 192 Offers an interpretation of neoliberal ideology as a political theology of chance that both justifies and dissembles risk-laden market processes as obscure divination tools used both to determine fate and fortune and yet to deny that such determination is taking place by any accountable authority. Within The Endgame -- We Have Always Been Giants -- Divining Neoliberal Order -- Random Chance Providential -- Risking Derivative Politics -- Decolonizing Divination. Joshua Ramey. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.