Introduction: What is a Keyword? (tentative) Agile – see lean, nimble Artisanal, adj. Accelerate Best practices, n. Choice Coach Creative (adj., n.) Disruption Data (n.) Deliverable (n.) Dialogue (n.)– see conversation Digital (n.) Empowerment Ecosystem (n.) Empowerment (n.); empower (v.) Engagement (n.); engage (v.) Excellence Freedom, n. Free speech, n. – see freedom Grit Human capital, n. Impact, n., v. Leverage (n., v.) Leader, leadership, n. Lean, v., adj. Maker, adj. Market Outcome, n. Passion Pivot Share, v., sharing, adj., n. Silo, n., v. Smart, adj. Solution, n. Thought leader – see leader, leadership
John Patrick Leary is Associate Professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit, where he teaches nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. and Latin American literature. He is the author of A Cultural History of Underdevelopment: Latin America in the U.S. Imagination (2016) and numerous scholarly articles and essays.
"A sharp recent book." —The New York Times
"Leary’s Keywords is definitely stimulating and well
worth a read...." —Naked Capitalism
"The extent to which the language of the market has appropriated so
many aspects of our lives is both fascinating and troubling.
Because it’s so ubiquitous we use this language without questioning
its deeper meaning, some of which, as Leary illustrates, is less
than benign." —The Independent, Santa Barbara
"As [Leary] explores what our language has looked like, and the
ugliness now embedded in it, [he] invites us to imagine what our
language could emphasize, what values it might reflect. What if we
fought “for free time, not ‘flexibility’; for free health care, not
‘wellness’; and for free universities, not the ‘marketplace of
ideas”? His book reminds us of the alternatives that persist behind
these keywords: our managers may call us as “human capital,” but we
are also workers. We are also people. “Language is not merely a
passive reflection of things as they are,” Leary writes. “[It is]
also a tool for imagining and making things as they could be.” —The
Outline
"[Leary] has written a clever, even witty examination of the
manipulation of language in these days of neoliberal or late stage
capitalism. Keywords: The New Language of Capitalism reminds the
reader that those who control the language can more easily control
the culture while also providing that reader with the tools needed
to decipher the capitalist class’s manipulation of the words we
use." —Counterpunch
"John Patrick Leary’s bracing study of the market regime’s
signature catchphrases and word clouds allows us to see how the
dogmas of late capitalism increasingly shape not merely the
taken-for-granted order of things but also the very language we
might otherwise employ to challenge that order. Still, even as
Leary’s dogged philology points us toward grim conclusions, his
critical voice also showcases the best uses our common tongue can
serve—calling out the lies and cruelties of the patois of the
capitalist market for what they are. Keywords is a worthy
successor to the groundbreaking work of Raymond Williams, and
deserves just as wide a readership." —Chris Lehmann, author
of Rich People Things
"John Pat Leary has written a history of the present in the form of
lexicon of its keywords. Resilience, flexibility, passion,
wellness, synergy, and dozens more – he explains the political work
done by words that fuel and beset our imaginations, that hail
and exhort us to keep working and buying things and paying our
debts in times of crisis, decline, and uncertainty about the
future. We don’t have nearly enough bulwarks against despair. This
book is it!" —Sarah Brouillette, Professor, Department of English,
Carleton University
"In this masterful dissection of capitalism's modern lexicon, John
Patrick Leary elucidates the ideas—and ideology—shaping our
contemporary political moment." —Nicole Aschoff
"If you feel like you’re drowning in the endless torrent of
capitalist bullshit, turn to this excellent glossary which explains
what all those terms really mean. Dip into it, use it as a
reference, or read it cover to cover - however you approach it,
you’ll find it immensely clarifying (and sanity-restoring)." —Doug
Henwood
"[This book]...pulls no punches. [It] shows, with a mordant
analysis, how the words used in modern business culture
disguise inequality, a false meritocracy, and the new ideology
that finds the bosses of Silicon Valley in bed with the
politicians in the White House." —El Confidencial
“Leary’s book is accessible, incisive, clever and compelling.”
–Oliver Eagleton, Counterfire
“Language has the opportunity to both passively reflect and
actively transform our environment. . . Keywords reminds us time
and again of this. . .Essential literature, although hardly this
year's corporate Christmas gift.” –Flammen
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