Reclaiming of Collective Solidarity vis-à-vis the Neoliberal Pitfall: Banding Together Fraser and McNally

16th BRAGA MEETINGS ON ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, Braga, Portekiz, 29 Haziran - 01 Temmuz 2026, ss.67, (Özet Bildiri)

The aim of this paper is to proposes a normative framework for a ‘solidarity of the oppressed’

that acknowledges specific inustices without sacrificing the collective power necessary to

challenge the system reproducing the oppression. Contemporary mainstream political dis-

course is increasingly dominated by a focus on cultural recognition as the primary site

of emancipation. However, within the framework of what Nancy Fraser terms “progressive

neoliberalism” this inward turn often risks becoming a site of market capture. Drawing on

Fraser’s recent theorization of “Cannibal Capitalism”, I argue that neoliberalism does not

merely co-opt identity; it ‘cannibalizes’ the social foundations of the subect. By converting

identities into competitive market assets, capitalism dissolves the social bonds necessary

for collective resistance. The subect is left within a fragmented identity that lacks the struc-

tural power to challenge the very system that commodifies it. Fraser argues that demands for

ustice are transformed into a “progressive neoliberalism” which validates individual meri-

tocracy -while dismantling the welfare state. By the same token, David McNally claims that

an over-reliance on “identity from within” can mirror the logic of the market. Fragmentation

of the political landscape into self-enclosed, atomized identity groups, undermines the

potential for solidarity. Thus, fragmented identities mean a loss of collective struggle which,

according to McNally, fosters a form of social atomization. Following McNally, the paper ar-

gues that solidarity is built through the recognition of shared precariousness under capital.

By identifying how neoliberalism exploits different identities in varied but systematic ways,

we can transform “isolated grievances” of self-enclosed identity groups into a “collective

front”. This kind of solidarity does not extinguish differences or ignore specific oppressions

but takes them into account for a dynamic collective praxis.