| Description |
1 online resource (xiii, 234 pages) : charts |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Intro; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; Foreword; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Deculturation; Decultured education; Liberalism; Political correctness; Excellence rhetoric; Kitsch; Excellence civilization; Image culture; Liberalism and deculturation; Dubai; Liberal utopias; The narcissistic culture of quantification; Liberalism and kitsch; The paradox of freedom; Which culture?; Notes; Chapter 1: A Religion of Excellence; The Gulf countries and excellence culture; A society of excellence; The progressive neoliberal; Positivism and dogmatism; Enlightened excellence |
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Corporate excellence versus Greek excellenceExcellence and utilitarianism; Note; Chapter 2: Kitsch: An "Alternative Aesthetic Truth"; On Bullshit; Does kitsch exist? Some methodological clarifications; Kitsch and liberalism; Kitsch and bullshit; Kitsch and standardization; Interactions between kitsch and bullshit; Is everything relative?; Rhetoric; Note; Chapter 3: Kitsch Liberalism; The Cold War; The denial of kitsch; Managerial kitsch; Kitsch humanism; Militant kitsch; Note; Chapter 4: A Culture of Narcissism; Kitsch and bullshit: Wittgenstein on Fania Pascal's "Narcissism." |
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Self-deception and pretentiousnessExcellence@tfu.edu.com; Self-deception; Cheating; Seduction; Coolness; Chapter 5: Cute, Excellent, Sublime, Interesting; The cute, the excellent, and the innocent; The excellent and the sublime; The cute and the sublime; The cute, the interesting, and the sublime; Aesthetics of the non-beautiful; Kitsch; The interesting and the excellent; The cute and the interesting; The interesting, the cute, and the excellent; The interesting, the sublime, and the cute; Trivial versus important; The excellence, the sublime, and the beautiful |
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Conclusion: A religion of excellenceNote; Chapter 6: Can Liberalism Be Saved?; The trajectory of liberalism; Neoliberalism; The paradox of liberalism; The paradox of "universal individualism"; "Enlightenment fundamentalism"; The French intellectual right; Liberalism and freedom; Deculturation: The ideology of indifference; Notes; Chapter 7: Immigration and Relativism: Toward a Better Liberalism?; Religion and relativism; Can refugees be Nietzscheans?; Nietzsche's "tragic relativism"; Tragic versus dramatic; The drama of conspiracies; Good space-bad space; Those who came off badly; Notes |
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Chapter 8: Three Anti-Liberals: Burckhardt, Evola, and MeineckeThe irrational; A better liberalism; Community and culture; Julius Evola; Jakob Burckhardt; Terribles simplificateurs; Notes; Chapter 9: The Narcissistic Culture of Quantification; Liberalism and quantification; Excellence versus existence; Conclusion: The Hermeneutic Solution; Humanists against pseudo-science; Notes; Bibliography; Index |
| Summary |
"What are the predominant aesthetics of the twenty-first century? Thorsten Botz-Bornstein argues that deculturation, embodied by the conspicuous vulgarity of kitsch, is the overriding visual language of our times. Drawing on the work of Islam scholar Olivier Roy, who argued that religious fundamentalism arises when religion is separated from the indigenous cultural values, Botz-Bornstein shows that the production of 'absolute' truths through deculturation also exists in contemporary education. The neoliberal environment has separated learning from culture by emphasizing standardization and quantified learning outcomes. In a globalized environment, the idea of culture is no longer available as a referent; instead we are taught to rely on the culturally neutral term 'excellence'. For BotzBornstein, this is an absolute value similar to the 'truth' of religious fundamentalists. Similarly, kitsch is what happens when aesthetic values are separated from cultural contexts. Kitsch is aesthetic fundamentalism. Kitsch aesthetics are an aesthetics of excellence. The consumption of kitsch can be understood as an intrinsically narcissistic impulse, reinforced by social media, individuals recycling their own selves without being confronted with the culture of the "other." The existence of self-centred "alternative truths", fake news and conspiracy theories and selfies are linked together in the fundamentalism-neoliberalism-kitsch pattern. Including analysis of the intersections of 'cute', 'excellent', 'sublime', and 'interesting' in contemporary aesthetic culture, this is a journey through philosophy, psychology and cultural theory, redefining a new aesthetics of deculturation"--Bloomsbury Collections |
| Note |
Compliant with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Content is displayed as HTML full text which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Aesthetics.
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Aesthetics. |
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Neoliberalism.
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Neoliberalism. |
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Fundamentalism.
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Kitsch.
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Fundamentalism. |
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Kitsch. |
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kitsch. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: BOTZ-BORNSTEIN, THORSTEN. NEW AESTHETICS OF DECULTURATION. [Place of publication not identified] : BLOOMSBURY, 2019 1350086347 (OCoLC)1074391410 |
| ISBN |
9781350086357 (electronic book) |
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1350086355 (electronic book) |
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9781350086364 (Electronic book (EPUB format) |
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1350086363 (Electronic book (EPUB format) |
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1350086371 |
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9781350086371 |
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1350086347 |
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9781350086340 |
| Standard No. |
10.5040/9781350086371 |
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