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We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture (1992)
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We Gotta Get out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture by Lawrence Grossberg
was published in 1992 and deals with several aspects of (then) contemporary American culture: Lawrence Grossberg states that it is a book about “the political, economic and cultural forces which are producing a new atmosphere, a new kind of dissatisfaction and a new conservatism in American
life”. Further, he discusses how commercialization, a lack of passion, and depoliticization causes a new conservatism in rock
. A critical review of the book calls it "a highly ambitious and intriguing work, if an ultimately flawed one."
.
Attacks on rock music are usually produced by Christian
fundamentalist movements and an “elitist fraction of a new conservative alliance”, who see rock as the main cause for “a certain fall from grace”.
and Thatcher
revival of conservatism can be understood in terms outlined by Antonio Gramsci
. A popular hegemony
sought to defang the critiques of the counterculture
and reinscribe youth culture in the service of corporate capitalism.
On the surface, this form does not resemble an attack but it uses rock music and reconstructs its meanings and significance. Thus, conservative Christian groups can use rock in order to spread their “fundamentalist and conservative messages”.
Grossberg further states that these attacks on rock are actually quite paradoxical, as rock has become “part of a dominant mainstream culture” and thus, “rock is losing power to encapsulate and articulate resistance and opposition””. According to Grossberg, however, the new conservatives try to regulate the “possibilities of pleasure and identity as the basis opposition and to dismantle the cultural and political field constructed in the 1960s".
Professor Michael Gardiner writes, "According to Grossberg, the major consequence of this is that politics in present-day America has become curiously depoliticized. Strictly economic or ideological arguments in favour of the conservative agenda have been replaced by appeals to mood, passion, sentimentality, and so on." Gardiner's review continues: "Yet, at the same time, daily life is repoliticized: the new conservatism
seeks to take over the spaces and places within everyday life formerly occupied by youth culture (the body, pleasure/fun, youth) and invest them with new values and meanings. The overarching goal is to submit the practices of daily life to an apparatus of power that is more congenial to the requirements of the emerging post-Fordist economic order. One result is that politics has become largely personalized, just another "lifestyle choice," rather than a site of collective struggle in which popular culture used to play a crucial role:"
Gardiner then quotes Grossberg, "The collapse of all political space, civil society and everyday life and the transformation of everyday life in disciplined mobilization not only depoliticizes large segments of the population, it also eviscerates the recognition of popular culture as a terrain and weapon of struggle."
Lawrence Grossberg
Lawrence Grossberg is an internationally renowned scholar of cultural studies and popular culture whose work focuses primarily on popular music and the politics of youth in the United States. He is also widely known for his research in the philosophy of communication and culture...
was published in 1992 and deals with several aspects of (then) contemporary American culture: Lawrence Grossberg states that it is a book about “the political, economic and cultural forces which are producing a new atmosphere, a new kind of dissatisfaction and a new conservatism in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
life”. Further, he discusses how commercialization, a lack of passion, and depoliticization causes a new conservatism in rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. A critical review of the book calls it "a highly ambitious and intriguing work, if an ultimately flawed one."
Introduction, “Rock under siege”
Lawrence Grossberg explains that the rising number of attacks on rock music only show the Right’s ambiguous relationship to popular culturePopular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
.
Attacks on rock music are usually produced by Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
fundamentalist movements and an “elitist fraction of a new conservative alliance”, who see rock as the main cause for “a certain fall from grace”.
The Increasing Commodification of Rock Music
Grossberg distinguishes between more organic forms of rock music, which sometimes characterize the 1960s, for example, and those of the 1980s, whose texts were highly choreographed by the culture industry (record labels, MTV, music magazines, etc.).Conservative Appropriation of Rock Music
For Grossberg, the ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
revival of conservatism can be understood in terms outlined by Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian writer, politician, political philosopher, and linguist. He was a founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime...
. A popular hegemony
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
sought to defang the critiques of the counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
and reinscribe youth culture in the service of corporate capitalism.
On the surface, this form does not resemble an attack but it uses rock music and reconstructs its meanings and significance. Thus, conservative Christian groups can use rock in order to spread their “fundamentalist and conservative messages”.
Grossberg further states that these attacks on rock are actually quite paradoxical, as rock has become “part of a dominant mainstream culture” and thus, “rock is losing power to encapsulate and articulate resistance and opposition””. According to Grossberg, however, the new conservatives try to regulate the “possibilities of pleasure and identity as the basis opposition and to dismantle the cultural and political field constructed in the 1960s".
Professor Michael Gardiner writes, "According to Grossberg, the major consequence of this is that politics in present-day America has become curiously depoliticized. Strictly economic or ideological arguments in favour of the conservative agenda have been replaced by appeals to mood, passion, sentimentality, and so on." Gardiner's review continues: "Yet, at the same time, daily life is repoliticized: the new conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
seeks to take over the spaces and places within everyday life formerly occupied by youth culture (the body, pleasure/fun, youth) and invest them with new values and meanings. The overarching goal is to submit the practices of daily life to an apparatus of power that is more congenial to the requirements of the emerging post-Fordist economic order. One result is that politics has become largely personalized, just another "lifestyle choice," rather than a site of collective struggle in which popular culture used to play a crucial role:"
Gardiner then quotes Grossberg, "The collapse of all political space, civil society and everyday life and the transformation of everyday life in disciplined mobilization not only depoliticizes large segments of the population, it also eviscerates the recognition of popular culture as a terrain and weapon of struggle."