Theory on theory.

Key debates in the domain of ‘Theory on Theory’ have this year focused upon the legacies of the theorists grouped together under the name ‘poststructuralism’, often drawing on material made available in recent decades by Barthes, Foucault and Deleuze which adds new facets to critical understanding of their work. Reflecting on their contributions, it appears that individual theorists can illuminate or extend each other’s oeuvres: Foucault in particular has attracted considerable attention in this vein in 2016, with books appearing which respectively place his ideas alongside those of Marx, Derrida and Deleuze. His lectures on ‘governmentality’, meanwhile, have prompted some to claim that his account of neoliberalism therein demonstrated a ‘quiet appreciation’ of it (Peter Fleming, The Mythology of Work: How Capitalism Persists Despite Itself (Pluto Press [2015]), p. 45). Turning to Barthes, we find re-evaluations...