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Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

Picked up a copy of "Hyperpolitics" on a whim after seeing it promoted all over the place and I can only conclude that Verso have an amazing marketing department because there's not much substance here and the evidence base is weak.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

The book has had glowing write-ups in various papers and magazines and the author was just interviewed on Ezra Klein's New York Times podcast. Apparently, a lot of people on the left have taken note of it.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

So what's it about? Good question. The author affects a prose style common to some left-wing writers which includes: 1) Adjectives in place of nouns [e.g. "metaphorics" instead of "metaphors"] 2) Long words over short ones 3) Lots of French expressions All of this obfuscates his argument.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

As a result, it's hard to know what "hyperpolitics" really means. You have to chase it down. Of course, that makes it hard to argue against because the author can just say "you haven't understood it". E.g. here's the thesis statement, which does not define hyperpolitics at all.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

In my view, this is bad. Authors share a common budget with their readers. You either work to make your writing clear or you shift the burden onto the reader to work out what the hell you meant. I think most would agree that you do your reader a disservice by expecting them to do most of the work.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

As for the evidence, the author draws on all sorts of stuff in the book, mainly contemporary history and literature. But he introduces his thesis by referencing this figure, which purports to show politicisation and institutionalisation over time.

9 reposts120 likes

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

I was curious about this plot because 1) there was no label on the y-axis 2) the institutionalisation series is too smooth 3) the politicisation series spikes so much towards the end that it clearly lacks face validity. So I wanted to know where these data came from.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

Turns out, the author just ... made them up 🤷‍♂️. I can't get over this. It really doesn't seem ok to me for someone to draw some squiggles, claim that they're illustrative of something in the real world, then act as though it's akin to evidence. The vibes you feel aren't data!

BungalowBill
@opinionsarelike.bsky.social

Perhaps if it’s just seen as what it is, an imaginative representation? I felt the same, & agree that introducing pseudo-scientific apparatus actually undermines rather than strengthens his arguments (with which I generally agree). Maybe political “scientists” feel they have to do this?

Leftback
@leftback.bsky.social

I stopped reading that Goodhart book 'The Road to Somewhere' about 10 pages in when he cited a Daily Mail poll as evidence for one of his opening arguments. But he never just made something up for the first figure, FFS.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

Yeah, it's really egregious. There's another part where he discusses the way the plots of Michel Houellebecq's novels change over time as evidence of the various transitions he discusses. Again, the subject of one man's novels won't sustain an argument about the real world!

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

Maybe I'm too dumb for this stuff. I don't know. But it was a dispiriting read because I believe that we can do a hell of a lot better than made-up data and unclear prose.

Brianna Chesser
@chessercat.bsky.social

These are all fields of study. He could have easily found this data. He even could have easily found it before the internet! JFC why do people keep giving these con artists platforms, especially supposed intellectual gatekeepers, like publishers, and somehow Ezra Klein?!

Colin Danby
@cdanby.bsky.social

Your followers might have been better informed if you had told them that the "No hard mathematical proof" passage comes just *before* Figure 1 in the main text.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

I didn't say it appeared in the notes. And, yes, it might appear on the page before the plot but it also appears after he introduces the figure, after he uses it to evidence his theory, and at no point does he compare it to any actual data.

Jack Bailey
@jack-bailey.co.uk

To be clear, I don't have a problem with illustrations. E.g. supply and demand curves are useful. What I find troubling is that this one apes a time series but isn't backed up by real data and the language use -- "synthesizing fragments" -- obfuscates the fact that there's ≈ nothing to back it up.

Colin Danby
@cdanby.bsky.social

1. One of your followers drew the conclusion it was hidden in notes, but indeed, you are not responsible for your followers. 2. My point is narrowly that there is nothing hidden here. Jäger is entirely clear, before the figure, what it is.