Week 4 Questions (Espinal)

1. In “Political Commitment” Hall explains on the factors that caused an absence of a political sensibility. Hall writes in the middle of what he calls “the age of the reversal of great ideologies” (85) a period that has seen a decline of political consciousness. His analysis clarifies how the collective embrace of modernization contributed to the erosion of political values that, when latent, had great achievements in the improvement of social welfare. Hall stresses that such consciousness “did not ‘happen’, they were achieved, carried at great personal costs” (90). I believe his description is a great point of departure to ask ourselves: What are our current paths to create political consciousness that moves people to become agents of change in improving social welfare?  

2. In “The Great Moving Nowhere Show” critics UK’s leftist political party “New Labour” whose leader, Tony Blair, was serving as Prime Minister. Hall’s critique is incisive as he draws solid points of comparison between his governmental measures and one of the most conservative representatives of the UK, Margaret Thatcher. By highlighting the similarities, Halls addresses that both politicians pointed to the “intellectuals” and their meta-political questions” as the enemies of their governments (298). We previously read Hall’s critique of theorizing on society from a desk. At the same time, Hall criticized the rejection of intellectuals “chattering”. How should a government incorporate intellectual work?