ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors draw together the threads of our argument about how the crisis of social integration sparked by neoliberal capitalism has catalysed the emergence of a new, postmodern conservatism. They start by looking at how Howard has been accused by critics of perfecting ‘dog whistle’ politics. Unsurprisingly, Howard’s take on Lasch was an extension of the standard neoconservative sociology of the ‘new class’. According to this standard neoconservative line, the ‘culture of narcissism’ (gratuitous self-love) promoted by this ‘new class’ has led to the ‘revolt of the elites and the betrayal of democracy’. Sociologist Christopher Lasch performed a shift comparable to that of leading neocons like Irving Kristol in the 1970s, who went from criticising capitalism’s implication in America’s problems to a single-minded fixation on the ‘new class’.
