White extinction: metaphysical elements of contemporary western fascism

Bhatt, Chetan ORCID: 0000-0002-4025-4203 (2021) White extinction: metaphysical elements of contemporary western fascism. Theory, Culture & Society, 38 (1). 27 - 52. ISSN 0263-2764

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Abstract

The Euro-American far-right represents a highly diverse political movement comprising numerous ideological tendencies. It includes the European New Right, the US ‘alt-right’ and ‘alt-lite’, far-right accelerationism, traditionalism, and new forms of political misogyny. Despite the diversity in ideas and activities, this article argues that an overarching theme of the ‘fear of white extinction’ travels across and animates each major contemporary far-right tendency. The article explores a variety of older and contemporary metaphysical themes that are deployed in contemporary fascism. These include new configurations of racism, occultist ideas of nature and vitalism, the rendering of culture and civilization in ‘biocultural’ and ‘anthropological’ terms, and ideas about cosmic destiny. The article considers how older ideas from Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Hans Günther, Ludwig Klages, Arnold Gehlen and others are mobilized in contemporary fascism to generate a critique of liberal modernity, one which leads remorselessly to a logic of white supremacy and apocalyptic violence.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.sagepub.com/home/tcs
Additional Information:	© 2020 The Author
Divisions:	Sociology
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Date Deposited:	08 Jul 2020 16:24
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 23:18
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/105582

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