Download or read book The Dialectics of Liberation in Dark Times written by Taylor Hines and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-29 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops Marcuse’s critique of advanced industrial society and deploys it as a lens to critically analyze contemporary neoliberalism and its structural failures. In the chapters, Marcuse scholars explore three related topics: First, Marcuse’s theory as it applies to the relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism, including both the historical relationship between the two and the modern re-emergence of authoritarianism and nationalism in neoliberal states today. Second, a re-examination of the relationship between neoliberal subjectivity and technological rationality that seeks to understand the stabilizing forces of neoliberal society and the way these forces register at the level of thought. Third and finally, Marcuse’s conception of socialism in conversation with contemporary neoliberal rationality, and ways in which alternatives to the status quo remain possible. Together, this volume contributes to recent discussions of neoliberalism and contribute to the development of Marcuse scholarship.

Download or read book The Marcusean Mind written by Eduardo Altheman C. Santos and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-10-29 with total page 727 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) was a member of the Frankfurt School, a leading figure of 1960s counterculture, and a fundamental character for the New Left. His ideas and theories, inspired by a rich fusion of Marxian and Freudian thought, exert a strong influence on contemporary thinking about activism, emancipation, and political resistance. He was also a student of Martin Heidegger in the late 1920s and engaged deeply with philosophy throughout his career. The Marcusean Mind is an outstanding survey and assessment of Marcuse's thought. Beginning with a thorough introduction to Marcuse's life and work, 39 chapters by an international and interdisciplinary team of contributors are organized into five clear parts: Intellectual Ecosystems of Marcuse Reason and Sensibilities Futures and Utopias Contemporary Movements Counterrevolutions, Neoliberalism, and Fascism These sections each contain a short introduction, after which Marcusean ideas are brought to bear on many key contemporary debates and issues across the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology. Including a Foreword by Craig Calhoun and an Afterword by Douglas Kellner, The Marcusean Mind is a superb resource for anyone interested in Marcuse's thought and its legacy. It is valuable reading for students of contemporary political theory, activism, philosophy, sociology, media and cultural studies, critical legal studies, and race and gender studies.

Download or read book Democracy in Dark Times written by Jeffrey C. Isaac and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-25 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a truly illuminating and necessary book. Jeffrey Isaac lucidly explores the moral and political dilemmas of this turbulent fin-de-siecle, East and West. His passionate approach is inspired by a genuine moral vision that sees liberal democracy as an unfinished, continuously beleaguered project. Hannah Arendt and Albert Camus, I am sure, would have been in full agreement with his line of reasoning."—Vladimir Tismaneanu, University of Maryland, College Park "This will be the first of the many recent books on Hannah Arendt to move beyond exegesis to engage in the kind of thinking about politics that she so valued. The book brings an Arendtian voice back into contemporary politics."—Lisa Disch, author of Hannah Arendt and the Limits of Philosophy "Jeffrey Isaac's new book is essential reading for anyone who seeks to grapple seriously with the challenges confronting progressive democratic aspirations."—Ian Shapiro, Yale University "This book reveals Isaac to be a first-rate essayist, a bold critic who writes about key issues of politics and democracy with learning, style, and power."—Robert A. Dahl, Yale University "Persuaded by Jeffrey Isaac's argument about dark times, I nonetheless found these essays full of light—strong, lively, provocative, and even, despite themselves, encouraging. There can't be a renewal of democratic theory and practice without the kind of critique that Isaac provides."—Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study

Download or read book Liberalism in Dark Times written by Joshua L. Cherniss and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timely defense of liberalism that draws vital lessons from its greatest midcentury proponents Today, liberalism faces threats from across the political spectrum. While right-wing populists and leftist purists righteously violate liberal norms, theorists of liberalism seem to have little to say. In Liberalism in Dark Times, Joshua Cherniss issues a rousing defense of the liberal tradition, drawing on a neglected strand of liberal thought. Assaults on liberalism—a political order characterized by limits on political power and respect for individual rights—are nothing new. Early in the twentieth century, democracy was under attack around the world, with one country after another succumbing to dictatorship. While many intellectuals dismissed liberalism as outdated, unrealistic, or unworthy, a handful of writers defended and reinvigorated the liberal ideal, including Max Weber, Raymond Aron, Albert Camus, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Isaiah Berlin—each of whom is given a compelling new assessment here. Building on the work of these thinkers, Cherniss urges us to imagine liberalism not as a set of policies but as a temperament or disposition—one marked by openness to complexity, willingness to acknowledge uncertainty, tolerance for difference, and resistance to ruthlessness. In the face of rising political fanaticism, he persuasively argues for the continuing importance of this liberal ethos.

Download or read book Heritage Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre written by Benjamin Poore and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-11-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stage portrayal of the Victorians in recent times is a key reference point in understanding notions of Britishness, and the profound politicisation of that debate over the last four decades. This book throws new light on works by canonical playwrights like Bond, Edgar, and Churchill, linking theatre to the wider culture at large.

Download or read book The Education of Radical Democracy written by Sarah S. Amsler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Education of Radical Democracy explores why radical democracy is so necessary, difficult, and possible and why it is important to understand it as an educative activity . The book draws on critical social theory and critical pedagogy to explain what enables and sustains work for radical democratization, and considers how we can begin such work in neoliberal societies today. Exploring examples of projects from the nineteenth century to the present day, the book sheds light on a wealth of critical tools, research studies, theoretical concepts and practical methods. It offers a critical reading of the ‘crisis of hope’ in neoliberal capitalist societies, focusing on the problem of the ‘contraction of possibilities’ for democratic agency, resistance to domination, and practices of freedom. It argues that radically democratic thinking, practice, and forms of social organization are vital for countering and overcoming systemic hegemonies and that these can be learned and cultivated. This book will be of interest to academics, practitioners, researchers, and students in education and critical theory, and to those interested in the sociology, philosophy and politics of hope. It also invites new dialogues between theorists of neoliberal power and political possibility, those engaged in projects for radical democratization, and teachers in formal and informal educational settings.

Download or read book Routledge Revivals Bertolt Brecht Dialectics Poetry Politics 1988 written by Peter Brooker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-02-17 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1988, this books argues with received accounts to reclaim Brecht’s emphasis on his self-described ‘dialectical theatre’, re-examining firstly the concepts of Gestus and Verfremdung and their realisation in Brecht’s poetry in terms of his attempt to consciously apply the methods of dialectical materialism to art and cultural practice. The author also takes issue with the customary view of Brecht’s career and politics which sees him as compromising either with Communist party dogma or bourgeois aesthetics, to find developing parallels between Brecht’s political and artistic though and the critical dialectics of Marx, Lenin and Mao. This development is examined in later chapters in relation to the early and late plays, The Measures Taken and Days of the Commune as well as in relation to Brecht’s changed circumstances in the years of war-time exile and in post-war East Germany.

Download or read book Culture Madness and Wellbeing written by Jason Lee and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2024-01-13 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a unique study of the historical, theoretical, and cultural interpretations of ‘madness’ including interviews with those who have experiences of ‘madness’. It takes a transdisciplinary approach, employing historical, psychological, and sociological perspectives through an intersectional lens. This work explains how the prioritization of thinking over feeling in Western thought means the transrational imagination has frequently been negated in tackling mental health with detrimental results. This book, therefore, examines creative media, especially film, as a transrational form of human expression for healing and wellbeing, along with television, theatre, social media, music, and computer games. ‘Madness’ with regards to gender, sexuality, adolescence, and class in media and film is interrogated, as well as ‘madness’ and race through a focus on colonialism, post-colonialism, and psychiatry. It analyses group psychosis, including celebrity culture, and the ‘madness’ of leaders and gurus. This book challenges the lasting influence of the Age of Reason by furthering our understanding of the value of transrationality and the diverse ways of being human.

Download or read book Interesting Times written by Eric Hobsbawm and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eric Hobsbawm is considered by many to be our greatest living historian. Robert Heilbroner, writing about Hobsbawm’s The Age of Extremes 1914-1991 said, “I know of no other account that sheds as much light on what is now behind us, and thereby casts so much illumination on our possible futures.” Skeptical, endlessly curious, and almost contemporary with the terrible “short century” which is the subject of Age of Extremes, his most widely read book, Hobsbawm has, for eighty-five years, been committed to understanding the “interesting times” through which he has lived. Hitler came to power as Hobsbawm was on his way home from school in Berlin, and the Soviet Union fell while he was giving a seminar in New York. He was a member of the Apostles at King’s College, Cambridge, took E.M. Forster to hear Lenny Bruce, and demonstrated with Bertrand Russell against nuclear arms in Trafalgar Square. He translated for Che Guevara in Havana, had Christmas dinner with a Soviet master spy in Budapest and an evening at home with Mahalia Jackson in Chicago. He saw the body of Stalin, started the modern history of banditry and is probably the only Marxist asked to collaborate with the inventor of the Mars bar. Hobsbawm takes us from Britain to the countries and cultures of Europe, to America (which he appreciated first through movies and jazz), to Latin America, Chile, India and the Far East. With Interesting Times, we see the history of the twentieth century through the unforgiving eye of one of its most intensely engaged participants, the incisiveness of whose views we cannot afford to ignore in a world in which history has come to be increasingly forgotten.

Download or read book Habermas and Contemporary Society written by J. Sitton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2003-08-15 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last four decades Jürgen Habermas has forged an innovative and much-discussed theory of contemporary capitalist society. Building on Max Weber's thesis that the dynamic of capitalism actually erodes individual freedom and the meaningfulness of social life - famously resulting in a culture of 'specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart' - Habermas traces contemporary social conflict to resistance to this dynamic by a variety of social groups. His theory of 'communicative action' attempts to show the possibilities in contemporary society for moving toward a more balanced social life that, unlike other political currents today, would not sacrifice the truly progressive features of complex modern societies. By marginalizing methodological and other more specialized theoretical concerns, this book focuses on Habermas's substantive portrayal of contemporary society and its discontents.

Download or read book Turn Off Your Mind written by Gary Lachman and published by Red Wheel Weiser. This book was released on 2003-06-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did a decade of love and peace end in Altamont and the Manson Family bloodbath? Gary Lachman explores the sinister dalliance of rock’s high rollers and a new wave of occultists, tying together John Lennon, Timothy Leary, Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson, Charles Manson, Anton LaVey, Jim Morrison, L. Ron Hubbard and many more American cultural icons.

Download or read book Women s Political and Social Thought written by Hilda L. Smith and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ..". a wide array of time periods, cultures, and formats... " --Library Journal The first collection of source readings of women's important writings in political and social theory from ancient times to the twentieth century. From Sappho of Lesbos to Mary Wollstonecraft and from Jane Addams to Simone Weil, these works fill a major gap in materials available for teaching the history of political thought and opens paths for exploring the rich and diverse contributions of women as creators of theory.

Download or read book Becoming Utopian written by Tom Moylan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-26 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dream of a better world is a powerful human force that inspires activists, artists, and citizens alike. In this book Tom Moylan – one of the pioneering scholars of contemporary utopian studies – explores the utopian process in its individual and collective trajectory from dream to realization. Drawing on theorists such as Fredric Jameson, Donna Haraway and Alain Badiou and science fiction writers such as Kim Stanley Robinson and China Miéville, Becoming Utopian develops its argument for sociopolitical action through studies that range from liberation theology, ecological activism, and radical pedagogy to the radical movements of 1968. Throughout, Moylan speaks to the urgent need to confront and transform the global environmental, economic, political and cultural crises of our time.

Download or read book The Gospel of Justice written by and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Another Freedom written by Svetlana Boym and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-07-02 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The word “freedom” is so overly used—and frequently abused—that it is always in danger of becoming nothing but a cliché. In Another Freedom, Svetlana Boym offers us a refreshing new portrait of the age-old concept. Exploring the rich cross-cultural history of the idea of freedom, from its origins in ancient Greece to the present day, she argues that our attempts to imagine freedom should occupy the space of not only “what is” but also “what if.” Beginning with notions of sacrifice and the emergence of a public sphere for politics and art, Boym expands her account to include the relationships between freedom and liberation, modernity and terror, and political dissent and creative estrangement. While depicting a world of differences, she affirms lasting solidarities based on the commitment to the passionate thinking that reflections on freedom require. To do so, Boym assembles a remarkable cast of characters: Aeschylus and Euripides, Kafka and Mandelstam, Arendt and Heidegger, and a virtual encounter between Dostoevsky and Marx on the streets of Paris. By offering a fresh look at the strange history of this idea, Another Freedom delivers a nuanced portrait of freedom, one whose repercussions will be felt well into the future.

Download or read book Engaging with the World written by Margaret S Archer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title reflects the general theme of the 2010 IACR annual conference that was held in Padova, Italy, the aim of which was to provide a fresh view on some cultural and structural changes involving Western societies after the world economic crisis of 2008, from the point of view of Critical Realism. Global society is often regarded as disrupting identities and blurring boundaries, one which entails giving up ideas of structure and fixity. Globalization supposedly introduces a "liquid" era of fluidity where everything is possible, and anything goes. Nevertheless, its current dynamics are developing into a harder reality: wars, economic crisis, the haunting risk of pandemics, the ever worsening food supply crisis, and the environmental challenge. These social facts call for a dramatic shift in the optimistic cosmopolitan mood and the thought that we can build and rebuild ourselves and our world as we please, at least for the most developed countries. The challenges we face produce new forms of social life and individual experience. They also require us to develop new frameworks to analyze emergent contexts, institutional complexes and morphogenetic fields, and new ways to understand human agency and the meaning of emancipation. The book broadly falls into three parts: The first, "Social Ontology and a New Historical Formation", deals with mainly social ontological issues, insofar as they are connected to social scientific and public issues in the emerging society of the XXI century. The second, "Being human and the adventure of agency", is concerned with the way human beings adapts to the "new world" of "our times", and comes up with innovative models of agency and socialization. The third, "The constitutionalization of the new world", explores critical realist perspectives, as compared to system-theoretical ones, on the issue of global order and justice. In all of this, the challenge is to engage with this "new world" in a meaningful way, a task for which a realist mind set is badly needed. Critical realism provides a strong theoretical framework that can meet the challenge, and the book explores its contribution to making sense of, and coming to terms with, this historical formation.

Download or read book Towards a Politics of Communion written by Anna Rowlands and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anna Rowlands offers a guide to the main time periods, key figures, documents and themes of thinking developed as Catholic Social Teaching (CST). A wealth of material has been produced by the Catholic Church during its long history which considers the implications of scripture, doctrine and natural law for the way these elements live together in community - most particularly in the tradition of social encyclicals dating from 1891. Rowlands takes a fresh approach in weaving overviews of the central principles with the development of thinking on political community and democracy, migration, and integral ecology, and by considering the increasingly critical questions concerning the role of CST in a pluralist and post-secular context. As such this book offers both an incisive overview of this distinctive body of Catholic political theology and a new and challenging contribution to the debate about the transformative potential of CST in contemporary society.