Conclusion

Summary

The Conclusion summarizes the arguments of the book and inquires about the place of the alternative left in the history of the Federal Republic. It engages with a scholarship of neoliberal forms of ‘governing the self’ that has often argued that new leftists played an important role in establishing this new form of ‘pastoral power’. The Conclusion argues that this might be the case, but that contemporary critics within the alternative left were already highly aware of this. It thus offers an alternative interpretation that highlights the emotional productivity of the alternative left and the manifold ways in which leftists experimented with new emotional practices. Finally, the Conclusion inquires about the implications of writing a history of an exuberant moment, when change over time ceases to matter.