Common Ground explores the philosophical relationship between collectivity, individuality, affect and agency in the neoliberal era. Jeremy Gilbert argues that individualism is forced upon us by neoliberal culture, fatally limiting our capacity to escape the current crisis of democratic politics. The book asks how forces and ideas opposed to neoliberal hegemony, and to the individualist tradition in Western thought, might serve to protect some form of communality, and how far we must accept assumptions about the nature of individuality and collectivity which are the legacy of an elitist tradition. Along the way it examines different ideas and practices of collectivity, from conservative notions of hierarchical and patriarchal communities to the politics of ‘horizontality’ and ‘the commons’ which are at the heart of radical movements today. Exploring this fundamental faultline in contemporary political struggle, Common Ground proposes a radically non-individualist mode of imagining social life, collective creativity and democratic possibility. 'A bold, brilliant and ultimately hopeful attempt to build a critique of liberalism and neoliberalism on different foundations' -- Mark Fisher, Goldsmiths 'A serious and courageous engagement with the deepest issue of our time. Humanity cannot go on as we are, but how do we change course? Gilbert starts to build a strategy from the wreckage' -- Anthony Barnett, founder of openDemocracy 'We live in an interregnum. The old is not yet dead and the new is yet to be born. No one understands this moment better than Jeremy Gilbert.' -- Neal Lawson, Chair for Compass 'The task of a philosophy of relation, of a transindividual philosophy, is not just to assert the reality of relations, but to understand how those very relations individuate us. Gilbert's book is an important contribution to such a project' -- Jason Read, The New Inquiry 'Addresses the most urgent practical questions about individualism and collectivism, using the most sophisticated theoretical tools available to progressive thought' -- Lawrence Grossberg, Morris Davis Distinguished Professor of Media Studies & Cultural Studies at UNC, and author of Cultural Studies in the Future Tense (Duke University Press, 2010) 'Jeremy Gilbert is a master storyteller, reassembling critical traditions and opening up contemporary cases. In contrast to much theorising of the present, Common Ground honours the liveness and the conceptual vitality of the political: a necessity, in this exciting and terrifying contemporary moment' -- Lauren Berlant, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor, Department of English, University of Chicago 'A bold, brilliant and ultimately hopeful attempt to build a critique of liberalism and neoliberalism on different foundations' 'A serious and courageous engagement with the deepest issue of our time. Humanity cannot go on as we are, but how do we change course? Gilbert starts to build a strategy from the wreckage' 'We live in an interregnum. The old is not yet dead and the new is yet to be born. No one understands this moment better than Jeremy Gilbert.' 'The task of a philosophy of relation, of a transindividual philosophy, is not just to assert the reality of relations, but to understand how those very relations individuate us. Gilbert's book is an important contribution to such a project' 'Addresses the most urgent practical questions about individualism and collectivism, using the most sophisticated theoretical tools available to progressive thought' 'Jeremy Gilbert is a master storyteller, reassembling critical traditions and opening up contemporary cases. In contrast to much theorising of the present, Common Ground honours the liveness and the conceptual vitality of the political: a necessity, in this exciting and terrifying contemporary moment' Jeremy Gilbert is Professor of Cultural and Political Theory at the University of East London and editor of the journal New Formations. He is the co-author of Discographies: Dance, Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound (2002) and the author of Anti-capitalism and Culture: Radical Theory and Popular Politics (2008). Common Ground Democracy and Collectivity in an Age of Individualism By Jeremy Gilbert Pluto Press Copyright © 2014 Jeremy Gilbert All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7453-2531-6 Contents Acknowledgements, vi, Preface, viii, 1. Postmodernity and the Crisis of Democracy, 1, 2. A War of All Against All: Neoliberal Hegemony and Competitive Individualism, 29, 3. Leviathan Logics: Group Psychology from Hobbes to Laclau, 49, 4. The State of Community Opened: Multitude and Multiplicity, 69, 5. The Non-Fascist Crowd: Individuation and Infinite Relationality, 99, 6. Feeling Together: Affect, Identity and the Politics of the Common, 143, 7. On the Impossibility of Making Decisions: Affect, Agency and the Democratic Sublime, 172, 8. Conclusions, 210, Notes, 217, References, 230, Index, 249,