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| The Politics of Fear: Bowman's Criticism on Contemporary Capitalism |
| TAO Ri-gui |
| College of Marxism, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510320 |
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Abstract Bowman's comprehensive criticism of contemporary capitalism focuses on political criticism, which consists in three aspects. Firstly, he criticized horrification of state politics. Contemporary states have abandoned social security?functions and taken protection of individual safety as a new legal means. Welfare states have been replaced by criminalized ones, which divorces the actions driven by fear further away from the root cause of fear. Secondly, he criticized consumerization of life politics. For the individuals engaged in life politics, choice is a destiny, and fear is always there with them. The consumer market makes elimination of fear a selling point, but each "prescription" is different and even contradictory with each other. Thirdly, Bowman criticized
nihilization of public space. Conventional public space has turned into isolated exclusive battlefields, whereas newly emerging public space is haunted with personal anxiety, which cannot be translated into public issues.
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Received: 04 February 2015
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2015, Vol. 32 
