Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Theory and Criticism

Supervisor

Calcagno, Antonio

2nd Supervisor

Gardiner, Michael

Abstract

In this dissertation, I use the work of the Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci to analyze the meanings and functions of the “Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory” or “Cultural Marxism.” According to this theory, members of the Frankfurt School emigrated to the United States to undermine traditional American culture and destroy Western Civilization. From New Right think tanks and conservative filmmakers, various segments of the American Right deploy this narrative to lament the decline of traditional cultural norms and the rise of ‘political correctness.’ Whereas most academic accounts portray the “Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory” as a narrative that remains substantially the same throughout all its subsequent or local adaptations, I adopt a strict contextualist approach to emphasize the differences between specific articulations of “Cultural Marxism/s.” Building on Gramsci’s theory of intellectuals, I develop a method for investigating the organizational and institutional contexts of the intellectuals who devised and disseminated these narratives. I perform a conjunctural analysis to contextualize “Cultural Marxism/s” as a series of ideological responses to the diffuse crises of the post-1960s United States. I argue that the intellectuals of various emergent political forces developed “Cultural Marxism/s” to explain these crises, organize identities, and promote proposals for societal transformation. I examine the meanings and functions of “Cultural Marxism/s” in the specific contexts of three reactionary political forces in the United States: the Lyndon LaRouche movement, the Free Congress Foundation and the New Right, and the Tea Party Movement.

Summary for Lay Audience

The “Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory,” or “Cultural Marxism,” is commonly known as a right-wing narrative that accuses a group of German Marxist theorists called the Frankfurt School of infiltrating the United States in the 1930s to undermine American culture and thus destroy Western Civilization. From New Right think tanks to conservative film-makers, various segments of the American Right use this idea of “Cultural Marxism” to lament the decline of traditional cultural norms and the rise of ‘political correctness,’ ‘wokeness,’ and ‘Critical Race Theory.’ Whereas most academic accounts describe the “Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory” as a narrative that remains substantially the same throughout all its subsequent or local adaptations, I adopt a strict contextualist approach to highlight the differences between specific articulations of “Cultural Marxism/s.” Building on the Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci’s theory of intellectuals, I develop a method for analyzing the practices and conditions of particular intellectuals in certain organizational and institutional contexts. I use this method throughout the dissertation to contextualize the various articulations of “Cultural Marxism/s.” I point out that these articulations represent a series of ideological responses to the diffuse crises of post-1960s America. I argue that the intellectuals of different organizations and movements used “Cultural Marxism/s” to explain these crises, organize political identities, and promote their own proposals for social transformation. I examine the meanings and functions of “Cultural Marxism/s” in the specific contexts of three reactionary political forces in the United States: the Lyndon LaRouche movement, the Free Congress Foundation and the New Right, and the Tea Party Movement.

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