Nostalgia for an Age Yet to Come: Alienation, Neo-Emotions, and Radical Politics in Contemporary Capitalism

This article analyzes the emotions of alienation, estrangement, and nostalgia, and how they are central to the production of neo-emotions in contemporary society. Alienation is a product of the macro-social context of capitalist societies and contemporary neo-emotions are a response to this, addressing the current misalignment between people, their emotional experiences, and their dynamic environment. I consider how alienation affects those on the left of politics, including those involved in radical activism, and how neo-emotions are the creative practices that forge new identities and collectives for active resistance. Those struggling to create non-alienated societies always experienced conflicting emotions, like optimism and pessimism, hope and despair, but these can be synthesized into positive neo-emotions such as progressive nostalgia and radical hope.