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The Shirley Williams Fellowship in Politics
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Professor Lois McNay in the Brittain-Williams Room at Somerville College. Photo Jack Evans
Standing on the shoulders of giants
When Shirley Williams died last year, there was no doubt at Somerville that the only proper way to memorialise this cherished alumna and giant of British politics was by endowing the Politics Fellowship in the college where her political career began.
Shirley Williams’ achievements are legion: first woman chair of the Oxford University Labour Club, co-founder of the SDP, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords, acclaimed author and Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Shirley is also remembered for the unfailing compassion of her politics – she was, as the saying goes, the best Prime Minister we never had.
Thanks to a warm outpouring of support from friends in Parliament and at Oxford, it is a pleasure to confirm that this year’s fundraising appeal to endow our Politics Fellowship in Shirley’s name was successful. The following interview therefore introduces readers to the inaugural recipient of the Fellowship, Professor Lois McNay, author of The Gender of Critical Theory and Somerville’s current Vice-Principal.
You specialise in the critical theory exemplified by Adorno, Habermas and Horkheimer. Can you please give a brief layperson’s introduction to this field?
Perhaps the easiest way to define critical theory is by saying how it differs from political ‘philosophy’. Political philosophers think it’s their job to define ideal notions of justice, equality or freedom – what ‘ought’ to hold true. But critical theorists think that these ideals should be deduced from the ‘is’ of what's actually happening in the world, in particular from suffering, injustice and inequality. So, instead of devising a moral blueprint in advance and imposing it on the world, critical theorists believe it is important to start from grounded social critique of what is wrong and extrapolate outwards from there. The ‘ought’ and the ‘is’ remain in constant dialogue.
When you look at contemporary society through the lens of critical theory, what do you see?
I suppose, like everyone else, I see a world in an unusually turbulent state, aggravated by the rise of various anti-democratic trends. If I were to offer an analysis of that situation via critical theory, I’d probably start with The Dialectic of Enlightenment by Adorno and Horkheimer. Back in 1947, they argued that it’s dangerous to impute non-democratic tendencies solely to totalitarian regimes because that risked overlooking the potential for consumerism to depoliticise the individual under capitalism. Today, we’re seeing the partial vindication of that thesis: we have indeed sleepwalked into a globalised capitalist order which is hollowing out democracy from within. Unfortunately, critical theorists would also argue that our current situation is near impossible to resolve because we’re hard-wired to express ourselves through consumerism. That explains our paralysis in the face of the climate emergency: over-consumption has locked us into a ‘cannibal capitalism’ that, if unchecked, can only end by undermining its own foundations.
That’s not very encouraging. Do the critical theorists offer us any hope?
Some do. In particular, the eminent philosopher Jurgen Habermas sees the possibility for change in humanity’s universal capacity for communication. He maintains that the ability to communicate offers a framework for thinking about justice and equality that starts in the real world and brings everyone to the table. Through such rational communication, Habermas suggests, we can acknowledge our differences as well as discover similarities, and thus transcend conflict and disagreement. It’s an old idea, really, but an appealing one, because it doesn’t depend on fanciful ideals dreamt up by theorists; it’s a potentiality already present in human behaviour.
As the inaugural Shirley Williams Fellow in Politics, can I ask for your reflections on Shirley Williams and how she impressed you as a modern political figure?
Well, first of all, I feel enormously honoured to be the beneficiary of this Fellowship. I admired Shirley for many reasons: her practical feminism; her decades-long prominence as one of Most of all, I admire the way Shirley never lost her positivity or curiosity in life
only two women in leftist democratic politics; her ability to combine intellectual interests with political commitments in a way that is sadly rare these days. But most of all, I admire the way she never lost her optimism or curiosity. It’s all too easy to lose interest in other people as we get older, but even when I spoke to Shirley here at Somerville when she was in her nineties, it was clear she’d never lost that curiosity or openness. I will be privileged to try and carry some of that admirable spirit into my current role. Among this generation of students, who display a willingness to transcend dogmatic boundaries in pursuit of humane solutions that Shirley would recognise, I think it will be most welcome.
‘For me, the lessons of a life lived and shaped by Somerville, are these: think, write and read, always; live and work vividly, and bring your mind to bear on everything, from the tiniest practical problem to the widest social issue; respect the views of others, and of the past, but don’t let that stop you being awkward when you need to be. Argue for what you believe, and do it well.’
