Dwelling in the Proper: May 68, Political Economy, and Identity Politics

This paper explores the role played by the dispositif of the proper in the collapse of the economic, social, and political spheres that many are now calling the impolitical crisis of neoliberalism. By turning to this dispositif, I provide an alternative account of the processes that have given rise to the collapse of these spheres. I begin by examining how theorists working within the paradigm of political economy set the theoretical terrain for this confusion. In the second section, I discuss the main features and provide a brief genealogical account of this dispositif. Finally, I end with a discussion of how this dispositif is central to contemporary identity politics through the example of the debate about gender neutral pronouns.