Full Description
This book interrogates rising fascism in America. It spotlights the major facets of fascism that increasingly characterize contemporary US politics, in relation to political authoritarianism, the rise of anti-intellectualism, the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories, the glorification of political street violence and state violence, rising white supremacy, and the militarization of US political discourse. Alongside this, Giroux and DiMaggio show how the assault on critical education and pedagogy is central to the fascist program. They stress the importance of reprioritizing education as a public good to combating fascist politics and ideology and draw links between fascism and the banning of books in schools, whitewashing history, and punishing policies aimed at Black, Brown, and transgender youth. They challenge the commonly embraced notion that Trumpism is primarily a function of economic insecurity within his support base, documenting how support for the former president primarily centered on reactionary socio-cultural values and white supremacy. They also show how white supremacist values are central to the Trump base defending the January 6th insurrection, despite academics, journalists, and political officials in both major parties ignoring the threat of rising white nationalism.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: Fascist Nightmares and the Cult of Violence
1. Fascism's Trial Run: Rethinking Education in an Age of Conspiracy Theories and Election Deniers
2. Vigilantes on Parade
Part II: Neoliberal Fascism, Cruelty and Street Politics
3. Neoliberal Fascism, Cruel Violence, and the Politics of Disposability
4. Street Fascism and the Politics of Denialism
Part III: The Language of Fascism
5. Language and Violence as Spectacle in the New Age of Fascist Politics
6. Language and the Politics of Lying: The Big Lie and White Supremacy
Part IV: Fascism's Fundamentalist Passions
7. Fascist Politics and the Scourge of Antisemitism in the Age of Disconnected Present
8. Fascism, White Christian Nationalism, and QAnon Rising
Part V: Fascism's Attack on Political Agency and Historical Memory
9. The Menace of American Authoritarianism and the Crisis of Political Agency
10. Politicizing January 6, White Supremacy, and the Assault on Historical Memory
Part VI. American Society and the Turn Towards Fascism
11. The Nazification of American Society
12. What Fascism is (and Isn't): The White Working Class and White Supremacy
VII. Education and The Mobilizing Passions of Fascism
13. The Nazification of American Education
14. Orwell, Totalitarian Politics, and the War on Anti-Racism in Education
Conclusion
References
Index
