No Such Thing as Society – Neoliberalism and Crime in the Literature of Johannesburg, London, and Atlanta

This article looks at literary texts set in Johannesburg (Ivan Vladislavić, Portrait with Keys), London (Ian McEwan, Saturday) and Atlanta (FX series Atlanta, created by Donald Glover) to articulate the impact of neoliberalism in each text’s depiction of crime and communal urban society. By examining both how characters in each text react to crime, as well as how neoliberalism creates ripe conditions for actions deemed criminal by the state, this article takes cues from Margaret Thatcher’s aphorism, “There is no such thing as society,” to make the argument that though neoliberalism has failed in destroying community in many ways, there are routes back to a future in which we can again imagine a society built on solidarity, trust, and human flourishing.