unstable nature of work in late capitalism leaves people feeling drained and overly stimulated , questioning whether the decline in social solidarity and security leads to a “ longing for the well-established and familiar ” ( ibid , p . 28 ).
Another perspective that engages with this trope of ‘ lost futures ’ and the notion of loss regarding past political promises is coined by Brigitte Bargetz . She focuses on the potentialities – namely a ‘ melancholic agency ’– that may derive out of this “ political melancholy ” ( Bargetz , 2019 , p . 185 ). Bargetz discusses how melancholy can critique the historical present and identify political potentialities of a haunting future , arguing that it “ can nourish a desire for emancipation and democracy because it constantly reworks a political horizon ” ( Bargetz , 2024 , p . 71 ). She highlights Fisher ’ s concept of ‘ hauntological melancholia ‘ as an “ expression of a haunting repressed past as well as a future that has not yet occurred , but also a refusal to give up on the desire for this possible future ” ( Spitaler , 2018 , in Bargetz , 2024 , p . 71 , translated by the author ). Melancholy is appealing as a mode of resistance because it is haunted by an emancipatory possibility that remains open . As Fisher explains : “ Of course , one cannot simply wish back the future . But one can point out that we have lost a future ... The melancholy with which I look at this development is a form of refusal to resign myself to it — a melancholic attachment to longing for another future ” ( Fisher 2015 , in Bargetz , 2024 , p . 71 ). In this sense , Bargetz argues , melancholy connects past , present and future . Political melancholy then is both a revaluation of loss and a means for political agency , sustaining faith in the possibility of action against the current political climate ( ibid ). Bargetz notion of ‘ melancholic agency ’ reflects a commitment to the belief in agency , serving as an affective archive to counter contemporary political despair [ 1 ] that keeps alive the potentiality of emancipatory transformation ( ibid ). The aim of this essay , though , is pointing to the ways in which ‘ melancholic agency ’ has become a frame to promote populist ideologies .
This essay argues that the rising popularity of the tradwife reflects a longing for agency as a reaction to increasing insecurity in general . Brigitte Bargetz identifies a contemporary loss of agency as a response to the fragility of nationstate sovereignty ( Bargetz , 2021 ). While the sovereign state has historically provided citizens with a sense of agency and self-sovereignty by reducing complexity and orienting citizens , the loss of its capacity to provide security and protection due to its neoliberal turn exposes citizens to greater vulnerability and diminishes their sense of agency leading to a “ loss of horizons , order and identity ” ( ibid , p . 7 ).[ 2 ]
[ 1 ] Deborah B . Gould describes this pervasive political despair as feelings of political inefficacy and hopelessness , where change seems impossible despite collective efforts ( Gould , 2012 , p . 95 ).
[ 2 ] It should be noted that historically , in the context of citizenship and sovereignty in nation states , women have not experienced the same protection , security and support structures as men . See here : Zaharijević ( 2013 ) who examines how 19th century scientific discourses not only naturalized gender , but also used it as a political and epistemic tool to limit women ' s role and inclusion as full citizens .
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