Why Socialist Media is Framing Viral Outrage as a Political Dead End
Jacobin’s latest deep dive into Anton Jäger’s 'Hyperpolitics' paints a grim picture: it writes off today's social media-driven activism as a shallow cycle that can't match the weight of old-school labor movements. But this isn't just literary criticism. It’s a pitch. By using satire to mock millennial energy, the piece tries to funnel political frustration back into traditional institutions and $14 Valentine’s Day subscriptions. It conveniently ignores the times viral movements actually won, choosing instead to frame the present as a trap only their specific brand of socialism can spring.
Jacobin is using a critique of 'hyperpolitics' to trash digital activism as shallow, aiming to redirect readers toward traditional socialist institutions and their own subscription plans.
This Jacobin review isn't just about books; it’s a sales pitch. The article serves as a marketing vehicle for both the Jacobin Foundation—which used the piece to hawk $14 Valentine’s Day subscriptions—and Verso Books, the publisher of Jäger’s work. By calling modern activism 'extreme politicizationLoaded Language without political consequences,' these groups are trying to reel back an audience that has moved toward decentralized, digital-first organizing. Basically, they're delegitimizing any political action that happens outside of their own controlled environments.
Jäger’s book (released in 2023/2024, despite Jacobin’s '2026' typo) offers a fair scholarly critique of the decline of mass politics since the 70s. But the review leans way too hard on Vincenzo Latronico’s novel 'Perfection' to make its point. Using a fictional character’s boredom as a proxy for a whole generation’s engagement is a lazy rhetorical shortcut. It ignores the reality of modern movements—like the 2020 racial justice protests or digital-led labor wins at Amazon and Starbucks—that used 'viral' momentum to force real, albeit non-traditional, institutional pressure.
“The article functions as a lead-generation tool for socialist organizing, framing modern activism as a failure to promote traditional labor models.”
The narrative blames the death of 'total institutions' like unions almost entirely on neoliberal policy. But history tells a messier story. Internal corruption, the massive shift from manufacturing to a service economy, and the failure of these institutions to adapt to a diversifying workforce all played a part. By skipping over these internal rot issues, Jacobin presents a sanitized version of the past. It’s selling a solution from fifty years ago that was already starting to break then.
The money trail here is pretty circular. Verso Books and Jacobin live in a symbiotic loop within the 'intellectual left' market, where selling 'crisis analysis' keeps the lights on. It’s ironic: these publications rely on the very social media algorithms they critique to find the subscribers they need to fund their 'anti-algorithm' message. We don't know yet if the 'hyperpolitical' cycle Jäger describes is a permanent dead end or just a growing pain for digital democracy.
For the average reader, the takeaway is simple: 'powerlessness' is often a framing device used by groups that want to recruit you into their specific brand of power. The boom-and-bust cycle of online outrage is real, but it isn't the whole story of modern politics. The kicker will be whether these 'mass politics' advocates can actually modernize their 20th-century tactics for a 21st-century workforce, or if they'll just keep relying on the aesthetic of struggle to sell subscriptions.
Summary
Jacobin’s latest deep dive into Anton Jäger’s 'Hyperpolitics' paints a grim picture: it writes off today's social media-driven activism as a shallow cycle that can't match the weight of old-school labor movements. But this isn't just literary criticism. It’s a pitch. By using satire to mock millennial energy, the piece tries to funnel political frustration back into traditional institutions and $14 Valentine’s Day subscriptions. It conveniently ignores the times viral movements actually won, choosing instead to frame the present as a trap only their specific brand of socialism can spring.
⚡ Key Facts
- Vincenzo Latronico authored the novel 'Perfection' (Le perfezioni), which follows characters Anna and Tom and explores themes of millennial political apathy.
- Anton Jäger is an intellectual historian who wrote 'Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences'.
- Mass politics, defined by 'total institutions' like unions and parties, began a significant recession in the 1970s.
- Despite extreme politicization, citizens in Western democracies feel a lack of political voice or 'external efficacy'.
Why Socialist Media is Framing Viral Outrage as a Political Dead End
Network of Influence
- Jacobin Foundation (subscription revenue)
- Verso Books (publisher of the reviewed book)
- Socialist political organizations seeking to redirect energy from social media to labor organizing
- Anton Jäger (author of the reviewed book)
- The article fails to mention successful instances where viral outrage led to legislative or corporate policy change.
- It omits the reasons why 'total institutions' like unions declined outside of government intervention, such as shifts to service economies and internal corruption.
- The review relies on a fictional satire to make broad sociological claims about real-world political engagement.
The narrative frames modern social media activism as a shallow, consequence-free cycle that has been engineered by neoliberalism to replace the more effective, 'mass politics' of the socialist past.