Left Theory and the Alt-Right

The alt-right movement in the United States has actively been endorsing the use of left theory to achieve its ends―and with varying degrees of success. Tracing occasions where figures on the alt-right reference left theory, this volume asks if the alt-right’s reference of left theory is just bad reading, or are there troubling ways that certain types of left theory encourage such interpretations? What if the connections between left theory and the alt-right lie in the shared disdain for certain types of institutions, structures of power, and the status quo? Are there lessons to be learned in what can often appear as an overlapping desire to deconstruct concepts like truth, justice, freedom, and democracy? Drawing on the longer history of right-wing readings of left theory, this volume seeks to unpack these recent developments and consider their impact on the future of theory.

Jeffrey R. Di Leo is Professor of English and Philosophy at the University of Houston-Victoria. He is founder and editor of symplokē and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange and its Winter Theory Institute. His books include Dead Theory: Death, Derrida, and the Afterlife of Theory (2016), Higher Education under Late Capitalism: Identity, Conduct, and the Neoliberal Condition (2017), American Literature as World Literature (2017), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory (2019), The End of American Literature: Essays from the Late Age of Print (2019), Biotheory: Life and Death under Capitalism (2020, with Peter Hitchcock), Philosophy as World Literature (2020), What’s Wrong with Antitheory? (2020), Vinyl Theory (2020), Catastrophe and Education: Neoliberalism, Theory, and the Future of the Humanities (2020), and Happiness (2022).

Sophia A. McClennen is Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at Penn State University and founding director of the Center for Global Studies. She has published 13 books, including Trump Was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn’t (2023), Pranksters vs. Autocrats: Why Dilemma Actions Advance Nonviolent Activism with Srdja Popovic (2020), and Globalization and Latin American Cinema (2018).