The Specter of Materialism: Queer Theory and Marxism in the Age of the Beijing Consensus

by Petrus Liu

In recent years, queer theory appears to have made a materialist turn away from questions of representation and performativity to those of dispossession, precarity, and the differential distribution of life chances. Despite this shift, queer theory finds itself constantly reabsorbed into the liberal project of diversity management. This theoretical and political weakness, Petrus Liu argues, stems from an incomplete understanding of capitalism’s contemporary transformations, of which China has been at the center. In The Specter of Materialism Liu challenges key premises of classic queer theory and Marxism, turning to an analysis of the Beijing Consensus—global capitalism’s latest mutation—to develop a new theory of the political economy of sexuality. Liu explores how relations of gender and sexuality get reconfigured to meet the needs of capital in new regimes of accumulation and dispossession, demonstrating that evolving US-Asian economic relations shape the emergence of new queer identities and academic theories. In so doing, he offers a new history of collective struggles that provides a transnational framework for understanding the nexus between queerness and material life.

Genres: Queer, China

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 2023

Reviews

[Shelley Pryde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot damn, the first half was a challenge because political economy is not my area, but the second half and especially chapter five really brought the arguments together so expertly. Very important contribution to Marxist thought / queer theory / China studies (and one that breaks the boundaries between all of those!).Loved this book, really challenged my thinking, would read again and again

[brady steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderfully written and constructed writing that challenges western neo-liberal conceptions of gender, queerness, and heteronormative societal understandings through a lens focus on china’s continued growth and capital accumulation in recent years. it’s nuanced and challenging in the best way. changed the way i engage with gender in regards to non-western thought/tradition and how gender (as understood in regards to non-heteronormativity) continues to be a site of challenge in all societies, especially those regarded with productivity and accumulation. really great!!!