Austerity and the Public Role of Drama: Performing Lives-In-Common

By Victor Merriman

This book asks what, if any, public role drama might play under Project Austerity - an intensification phase of contemporary liberal political economy. It investigates the erosion of public life in liberal democracies, and critiques the attention economy of deficit culture, by which austerity erodes life-in-common in favour of narcissistic performances of life-in-public. It argues for a social order committed to human flourishing and deliberative democracy, as a counterweight to the political economy of austerity. It demonstrates, using examples from England, Ireland, Italy, and the USA, that drama and the academy pursue shared humane concerns; the one, a critical art form, the other, a social enabler of critical thought and progressive ideas. A need for dialogue with emergent forms of collective consciousness, new democratic practices and institutions, shapes a manifesto for critical performance, which invites universities and cultural workers to join other social actors in imaginingand enabling ethical lives-in-common.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3030032590
• ISBN13: 9783030032593
• Release Date: February 2019
• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.3"