THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE WORK OF POLITICS: RADICAL DEMOCRACY, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY WELFARE STATE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE BY STEVEN KLEIN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JUNE 2016 To my parents Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... v Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Between Charisma and Domination: Max Weber, Political Economy, and Democracy ....................................................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2. Visions of the Social: Reform and Democracy in Nineteenth-Century Germany ...... 85 Chapter 3. Excursus: Heidegger’s Critique of the Philosophy of Value .................................... 116 Chapter 4. ‘Fit to Enter the World’: Hannah Arendt, Worldliness, and Modern Capitalism ..... 141 Chapter 5. The Causality of Fate: Jürgen Habermas and the Critique of Domination ............... 176 Chapter 6. The Population Question: Contradictions of Emancipation in the Twentieth-Century Welfare State ............................................................................................................................... 236 Conclusion: Democratic Theory and the Future of the Welfare State ........................................ 298 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 328 iii List of Figures Figure 1. Forms of Domination in Weber’s Sociology ................................................................72 iv Acknowledgments In the long course of researching and writing this dissertation, I have been fortunate to receive the support and encouragement of many friends and colleagues, without which this never would have happened. My desire to write about the welfare state was no doubt influenced by my direct encounters with individuals navigating the complexities of the modern state as an organizer and constituency assistant for the New Democratic Party, which was only possible thanks to Jenn McGinn, Mable Elmore, and Norman Gludovatz. My initial interest in thinking about politics through political theory formed at the University of British Columbia, and I am grateful to my teachers there for encouraging me to pursue that interest further: Robert Crawford, who guided me through my first encounters with theory in Arts One, Barbara Arneil, Bruce Baum, and Mark Warren. Special thanks must be reserved for Laura Janara, who read countless drafts of my grad school applications, has been a wellspring of encouragement, and continues to be an exemplary scholar-teacher and friend. I could not have asked for a better place to pursue political theory than the University of Chicago. With their unstinting support, my committee has nurtured this project from its initial inchoate form to a finished product. Bob Gooding-Williams provided astute advice for sharpening the deeper philosophical implications of my arguments. Patchen Markell’s work stands as a model for how close and careful reading can produce compelling political insights, and his ongoing feedback and support has greatly improved all aspects of the dissertation. Lisa Wedeen constantly pushes me to be self-critical, to think outside the box of what political theory should be, and to strive for the utmost clarity and precision in my arguments. Finally, I have been immensely lucky to have John McCormick as my dissertation supervisor. I came to U Chicago to work with John, and his guidance as a mentor has exceeded all expectations. More than just v keeping the project politically honest or helping me navigate the sometimes-choppy seas of academia, he has made graduate school genuinely enjoyable. From an initial fateful conversation at the Pub where he encouraged me to continue thinking about Habermas, Arendt, and Weber to seeing me over the finish line, every aspect of this project in some way reflects his support and intellectual influence. This project has also benefited from the University of Chicago’s broader intellectual community. The Political Theory, Social Theory, and Comparative Politics Workshops have been a source of stimulation and encouragement. I have been helped in various ways by conversations with, seminars taught by, or comments from Gary Herrigel, Hans Joas, Cheol- Sung Lee, Sankar Muthu, Jennifer Pitts, Bill Sewell, Dan Slater, and Nathan Tarcov. I have also been lucky to have a remarkable group of graduate school colleagues who made U Chicago not only an intellectual home, but a community of friends, so thanks to Sofia Alia Fenner, Milena Ang, Katerina Apostolidis, Fabian Arzuaga, Ashleigh Campi, Adam Dean, Sam Galloway, Yuna Blajer de la Garza, Rohit Goel, Daragh Grant, Sarah Johnston, Morgan Kaplan, Ainsley LeSure, Will Levine, Dan Luban, J.J. McFadden, Emma Mackinnon, Lucas Pinhiero, Bob Reamer, Larry Svabek, Tania Weinstein, Michael Williams, and Tal Yifat. Four colleagues in particular have been essential for making it through this stage and have provided constant feedback and encouragement, so my immense gratitude to Gordon Arlen, Daniel Nichanian, Natasha Piano, and Ethan Porter. Various parts of this dissertation have benefited from feedback from many scholars at different forums. I have presented various parts at conferences of the Law and Society Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, the American Political Science Association, and the Western Political Science Association, the University of Chicago Political vi Theory Workshop, and the Universität Bremen Political Theory Workshop, where I received excellent comments. For advice and thoughts along the way, I would also like to thanks Chiara Cordelli, Adam Etinson, Adom Getachew, Jeff Green, Christian Joerges, Matt Landauer, Stephan Leibfried, Ben MacKean, Martin Nonhoff, Frank Nullmeier, Corey Robin, Amit Ron, Shalini Satkunanandan, Emma Saunders-Hastings, Klaus Schlichte, Frieder Vogelmann, Jim Wilson, and Dieter Wolf. The project was supported by research fellowships from the University of Chicago, the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Mellon Foundation, and the CRC 597 “Transformations of the State” at Universität Bremen. Material in Chapter 4 was previously published as ““Fit to Enter the World”: Hannah Arendt on Politics, Economics, and the Welfare State” American Political Science Review 108, no. 4 (November 2014): 856-869, © Cambridge University Press. Material in Chapter 1 will be published as “Between Charisma and Domination: On Max Weber’s Critique of Democracy” Journal of Politics (forthcoming 2017), © University of Chicago Press. Finally, my friends and family have kept it all in perspective. Vida Yao is a constant companion in observing the oddities and wonders of academia and life. In Germany, Jan Brönneke welcomed us into his family, and we were lucky to also find the Schimos, Falk and Ellen, Gustavo Nunes Martins, and Cindy Schoenfeldt. In Chicago, Karen Underhill, Rick Meller, the Cygleskies, Rick Perlstein, Judy Cohn, Neil Landers, and Karl Vogel became our self-made family. Dominic Major, Matt Neuroth, Cory Hance, and John Sorenstein helped me make enough noise to get through the home stretch. Hitchcock House and everyone in it have been an amazing home and community in which to finish the dissertation. On Bowen Island, Mary, Leo, and Darwin constantly provided relief from summer writing. The Toronto Kleins and Florida Lanthier-Castillos have been a wonderful source of encouragement. Ella, Alix, and Gaby vii have been the right mix of supportive and skeptical. Renée more than anyone has carried the load of this dissertation, losing weekend upon weekend to the demands of writing, and she has been unflagging in her emotional support for and intellectual engagement with the project. I am very lucky to have a partner who understands academia while keeping it in perspective. Iris has made doing it worthwhile. Finally, my parents, Louis Klein and Aryana Rayne Klein, nurtured, not just my interest in political theory, but a love of knowledge, learning, and the world. I would never have been able to do this without their constant encouragement and support. viii Abstract This dissertation argues for the democratic potentials of political struggles over social welfare policies and institutions, potentials neglected by currently dominant approaches in democratic theory. I contend that critics underestimate the welfare's state's democratic significance because they conceive of political economy strictly in terms of instrumental mastery and technical calculation. This conception forms the implicit backdrop for deliberative- democratic defenses of the welfare state, which present it as the victory of universal solidarities over market imperatives and socioeconomic risks, as well as for radical-democratic critics, who present the welfare state as the consummation