Lifestylism?

Question

Could someone possibly explain what lifestylism is supposed to be or if it's just used as a pejorative against one that another disagrees with? Does it come from Murray Bookchin's Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism (I haven't read it)?

I seem to ask many questions.

Comments

yay for many questions.

yes, lifestylism came from that book/murray bookchin (or at least he made it the pejorative it is today).

my understanding is that it refers to the people who don't do -- or emphasize -- organizing (anarchist practice as attempting to make political change), but instead focus on how they live their lives, what they eat, how they dress, etc. (as if those were mutually exclusive, of course!)

(ps: i haven't read bookchin either, but i've listened to many people complain about him... perhaps someone with better info will correct me?)

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I mainly asked because someone called me one for saying something along the line of "if one isn't or won't try to work toward living a liberated life on a more individual level, how is it it suppose to work for a large amount of people" and not seeing the need to wait for some revolution. I asked them to explain and I was told to read that book by Bookchin. Then I sat there devising my exit strategy.

I meant I ask more questions than answering them as I don't have this in depth knowledge of the various anarchist philosophies.

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if they're telling you to read a book instead of talking to you about the ideas, chances are extremely good that they don't know what they're talking about.

of course, you might not want to get into a conversation with them about ideas, but that's a different thread. ;)

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That particular book(chin?) is especially loaded. I would never suggest such a highly polemic text without providing some context. That they did implies that they are probably pretty sure they know the True Path to Anarchism^tm.

Answer 1

The term has been used for various things, but after 1995 (when AK Press published "Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism"), the term became a catch-all dismissal for any kind of anarchism that avoided and/or rejected the kind of muscular, serious, revolutionary, scientific or otherwise successful (?) anarchist projects that were being touted as the way forward for anarchism. In his creation of a category of disgust and hatred, Bookchin was (unconsciously?) echoing the Stalinism of his youth. Stalin and his acolytes could only blame counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs as the culprits for the failures of Stalinism; Bookchin and others who adopted the term "lifestylist" found a convenient bogeyman to blame for the unpopularity of anarchism. They are unable to acknowledge that there might be something in their kind of anarchism that turns people off. In the analysis of those who were targeted (both explicitly and implicitly), Bookchin's caricature was nothing but an incoherent jumble (how could one be both a yuppie and a lumpen? how could one be both an individualist and a fascist? etc). Sadly, plenty of anarchists (the serious, muscular ones) latched on to Murray's invention and insist on using it as a disparagement regardless of its internal contradictions; it is an easy (lazy) shortcut to indicate, as you said, anyone the person deploying the term disagrees with.

Comments

I like how you used "muscular" in you answer. The Dean would be proud, except he is dead, so happily he isn't anything anymore.

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I'm one of the few people who agreed with the basic premise of Bookchin's little book, but I couldn't stand reading it. It really was an intolerable read and allowed for all kinds of assholes (Bob Black) to have a feeding frenzy and just destroy the work. Nonetheless, I find some of the anarchists of the "lifestylist" variety as being some of the most authoritarian people I've ever encountered. While no longer engaging in any form of "struggle", they simply disparage anyone who doesn't fit their little club. For example if you're not a vegan and/or dumpster diver. Mind you, I am just using two stereotypes and I am by no means implying that all anarchists who fit under "lifestylism" are all like this, but I have encountered quite a few. There is an anarchist infoshop in my town and the people who run it can be very uninviting and it turns people away. Sorry for the rant and feel free to disagree.

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moralist folks come in all flavors; i myself find more anarchists being moralist about activism than about veganism, but perhaps that is just my life.