Download or read book A Left that Dares to Speak Its Name written by Slavoj Zizek and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With irrepressible humor, Slavoj Žižek dissects our current political and social climate, discussing everything from Jordan Peterson and sex “unicorns” to Greta Thunberg and Chairman Mao. Taking aim at his enemies on the Left, Right, and Center, he argues that contemporary society can only be properly understood from a communist standpoint. Why communism? The greater the triumph of global capitalism, the more its dangerous antagonisms multiply: climate collapse, the digital manipulation of our lives, the explosion in refugee numbers – all need a radical solution. That solution is a Left that dares to speak its name, to get its hands dirty in the real world of contemporary politics, not to sling its insults from the sidelines or to fight a culture war that is merely a fig leaf covering its political and economic failures. As the crises caused by contemporary capitalism accumulate at an alarming rate, the Left finds itself in crisis too, beset with competing ideologies and prone to populism, racism, and conspiracy theories. A Left that Dares to Speak Its Name is Žižek’s attempt to elucidate the major political issues of the day from a truly radical Leftist position. The first three parts explore the global political situation and the final part focuses on contemporary Western culture, as Žižek directs his polemic to topics such as wellness, Wikileaks, and the rights of sexbots. This wide-ranging collection of essays provides the perfect insight into the ideas of one of the most influential radical thinkers of our time.

Download or read book A Left that Dares to Speak Its Name written by Slavoj Žižek and published by Polity. This book was released on 2020-04-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With irrepressible humor, Slavoj Žižek dissects our current political and social climate, discussing everything from Jordan Peterson and sex “unicorns” to Greta Thunberg and Chairman Mao. Taking aim at his enemies on the Left, Right, and Center, he argues that contemporary society can only be properly understood from a communist standpoint. Why communism? The greater the triumph of global capitalism, the more its dangerous antagonisms multiply: climate collapse, the digital manipulation of our lives, the explosion in refugee numbers – all need a radical solution. That solution is a Left that dares to speak its name, to get its hands dirty in the real world of contemporary politics, not to sling its insults from the sidelines or to fight a culture war that is merely a fig leaf covering its political and economic failures. As the crises caused by contemporary capitalism accumulate at an alarming rate, the Left finds itself in crisis too, beset with competing ideologies and prone to populism, racism, and conspiracy theories. A Left that Dares to Speak Its Name is Žižek’s attempt to elucidate the major political issues of the day from a truly radical Leftist position. The first three parts explore the global political situation and the final part focuses on contemporary Western culture, as Žižek directs his polemic to topics such as wellness, Wikileaks, and the rights of sexbots. This wide-ranging collection of essays provides the perfect insight into the ideas of one of the most influential radical thinkers of our time.

Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Literature and Social Justice written by Masood Ashraf Raja and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-20 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Literature and Social Justice is a comprehensive and multi- purpose collection on this important topic. With contributors working in various fields, the Companion provides in- depth analyses of both the cumulative and emergent issues, obstacles, praxes, propositions, and theories of social justice. The first section offers a historical overview of major developments and debates in the field, while the following sections look in more detail at the key traditions and show how literature and theory can be applied as analytical tools to real- world inequalities and the impact of doing so. The contributors provide reviews of major theoretical traditions, including Marxism, feminism, Critical Race Theory, disability studies, and queer studies. They also share literary analyses of influential authors including W. E. B. Du Bois, Yang Kui, Edwidge Danticat, Octavia Butler, and Rivers Solomon amongst others. The final section considers future possibilities for theory and action of justice, drawing specifically from theories and knowledges in decolonial, Indigenous, environmental, and posthumanist studies. This authoritative volume draws on the intersections between literary studies and social movements in order to provide scholars, students, and activists alike with a complete collection of the most up- to- date information on both canonical and emerging texts and case studies globally.

Download or read book In Defense of Capitalism written by Rainer Zitelmann and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-03-07 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capitalism, its critics say, prioritizes profits over humanity, creates dominant monopolies, and undermines democracy. Zitelmann scrutinizes each of these arguments in turn and reveals the critical flaws that debunk them. Rainer Zitelmann examines the ten most common objections to capitalism: that capitalism leads to hunger and poverty, to rising inequality, to unnecessary consumption, to environmental destruction, to climate change and wars. Capitalism, its critics say, prioritizes profits over humanity, creates dominant monopolies, and undermines democracy. Zitelmann scrutinizes each of these arguments in turn and reveals the critical flaws that debunk them. He offers counter arguments to each charge, deploying a wealth of historical evidence and eye-opening facts to prove that it is not capitalism that has failed, but a century of anti-capitalist experiments.

Download or read book The Relevance of the Communist Manifesto written by Slavoj Zizek and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-02-25 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No other Marxist text has come close to achieving the fame and influence of The Communist Manifesto. Translated into over 100 languages, this clarion call to the workers of the world radically shaped the events of the twentieth century. But what relevance does it have for us today? In this slim book Slavoj Zizek argues that, while exploitation no longer occurs the way Marx described it, it has by no means disappeared; on the contrary, the profit once generated through the exploitation of workers has been transformed into rent appropriated through the privatization of the ‘general intellect’. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have become extremely wealthy not because they are exploiting their workers but because they are appropriating the rent for allowing millions of people to participate in the new form of the ‘general intellect’ that they own and control. But, even if Marx’s analysis can no longer be applied to our contemporary world of global capitalism without significant revision, the fundamental problem with which he was concerned, the problem of the commons in all its dimensions – the commons of nature, the cultural commons, and the commons as the universal space of humanity from which no one should be excluded – remains as relevant as ever. This timely reflection on the enduring relevance of The Communist Manifesto will be of great value to everyone interested in the key questions of radical politics today.

Download or read book Conversations with Zizek written by Slavoj Zizek and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-08-30 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new book, Slavoj Žižek and Glyn Daly engage in a series of entertaining conversations which illustrate the originality of Žižek’s thinking on psychoanalysis, philosophy, multiculturalism, popular/cyber culture, totalitarianism, ethics and politics. An excellent introduction to one of the most engaging and controversial cultural theorists writing today. Žižek is a Slovenian sociologist who trained as a Lacanian and uses Lacan to analyse popular culture and politics. Illustrates the originality of Žižek’s thinking on psychoanalysis, philosophy, multi-culturalism, popular/cyber culture, totalitarianism, ethics and politics. Provides a unique glimpse of Žižek’s humour and character and offers new material and fresh perspectives which will be of interest to followers of Žižek’s writings.

Download or read book The Radicality of Love written by Srećko Horvat and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-01-11 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would happen if we could stroll through the revolutionary history of the 20th century and, without any fear of the possible responses, ask the main protagonists - from Lenin to Che Guevara, from Alexandra Kollontai to Ulrike Meinhof - seemingly naïve questions about love? Although all important political and social changes of the 20th century included heated debates on the role of love, it seems that in the 21st century of new technologies of the self (Grindr, Tinder, online dating, etc.) we are faced with a hyperinflation of sex, not love. By going back to the sexual revolution of the October Revolution and its subsequent repression, to Che's dilemma between love and revolutionary commitment and to the period of '68 (from communes to terrorism) and its commodification in late capitalism, the Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat gives a possible answer to the question of why it is that the most radical revolutionaries like Lenin or Che were scared of the radicality of love. What is so radical about a seemingly conservative notion of love and why is it anything but conservative? This short book is a modest contribution to the current upheavals around the world - from Tahrir to Taksim, from Occupy Wall Street to Hong Kong, from Athens to Sarajevo - in which the question of love is curiously, surprisingly, absent.

Download or read book The Politics of the Wretched written by Zahi Zalloua and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-09-05 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Politics of the Wretched argues for ressentiment's generative negativity, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective “No”. Inspired by Kant and Nietzsche's philosophy, Zalloua identifies two modes of deploying ressentiment – private and public use – by substituting ressentiment for reason. This reinterpretation argues for a public use of ressentiment, for the wretched to universalize their grievances, to see their antagonism as cutting across societies, and to turn personal trauma into a common cause. A public use of ressentiment rails against the ideology of identity and victimhood and insists on ressentiment's generative negativity, its own rationality, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective “No”. Reframing ressentiment as a tool to oppose the evils of capitalism, anti-Blackness, and neocolonialism, it both alarms the liberal gatekeepers of the status quo and promises to energize the anti-racist Left in its ongoing struggles for universal justice and emancipation.

Download or read book Generation Left written by Keir Milburn and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-06-07 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly age appears to be the key dividing line in contemporary politics. Young people across the globe are embracing left-wing ideas and supporting figures such as Corbyn and Sanders. Where has this ‘Generation Left’ come from? How can it change the world? This compelling book by Keir Milburn traces the story of Generation Left. Emerging in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, it has now entered the electoral arena and found itself vying for dominance with ageing right-leaning voters and a ‘Third Way’ political elite unable to accept the new realities. By offering a new concept of political generations, Milburn unveils the ideas, attitudes and direction of Generation Left and explains how the age gap can be bridged by reinventing youth and adulthood. This book is essential reading for anyone, young or old, who is interested in addressing the multiple crises of our time.

Download or read book Trouble in Paradise written by Slavoj Žižek and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2014-11-27 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Trouble in Paradise, Slavoj Žižek, one of our most famous, most combative philosophers, explains how by drawing on the ideas of communism, we can find a way out of the crisis of capitalism. There is obviously trouble in the global capitalist paradise. But why do we find it so difficult to imagine a way out of the crisis we're in? It is as if the trouble feeds on itself: the march of capitalism has become inexorable, the only game in town. Setting out to diagnose the condition of global capitalism, the ideological constraints we are faced with in our daily lives, and the bleak future promised by this system, Slavoj Žižek explores the possibilities - and the traps - of new emancipatory struggles. Drawing insights from phenomena as diverse as Gangnam Style to Marx, The Dark Knight to Thatcher, Trouble in Paradise is an incisive dissection of the world we inhabit, and the new order to come. 'The most dangerous philosopher in the West' - Adam Kirsch, New Republic 'The most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged in many decades' - Terry Eagleton 'Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation' - New Yorker Slavoj Žižek is a Hegelian philosopher, Lacanian psychoanalyst, and political activist. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and the author of numerous books on dialectical materialism, critique of ideology and art, including Less Than Nothing, Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce and, most recently, The Year of Dreaming Dangerously.

Download or read book A New Politics from the Left written by Hilary Wainwright and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-04-27 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions passionately desire a viable alternative to austerity and neoliberalism, but they are sceptical of traditional leftist top-down state solutions. In this urgent polemic, Hilary Wainwright argues that this requires a new politics for the left that comes from the bottom up, based on participatory democracy and the everyday knowledge and creativity of each individual. Political leadership should be about facilitation and partnership, not expert domination or paternalistic rule. Wainwright uses lessons from recent movements and experiments to build a radical future vision that will be an inspiration for activists and radicals everywhere.

Download or read book Reclaiming Democracy in Cities written by Gülçin Coşkun and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-03-26 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Effective urban governance is essential in responding to the challenges of inequality, migration, public health, housing, security, and climate change. Reclaiming Democracy in Cities frames the city as a political actor in its own right, exploring the city’s potential to develop deliberative and participatory practices which help inform innovative democratic solutions to modern day challenges. Bringing together expertise from an international selection of scholars from various fields, this book begins with three chapters which discuss the theoretical idea of the democratic city and the real-world applicability of such a model. Part II discusses new and innovative democratic practices at the local level and asks in what way these practices help us to rethink democratic politics, institutions, and mechanisms in order to move toward a more egalitarian, pluralist, and inclusive direction. Drawing on the Istanbul municipal elections and the Kurdish municipal experience, Part III focuses on the question of whether cities and local governments can lead to the emergence of strong democratic forces that oppose authoritarian regimes. Finally, Part IV discusses urban solidarity networks and collaborations at both the local level and beyond the nation, questioning whether urban solidarity networks and alliances with civil society or transnational city networks can create alternative ways of thinking about the city as a locus of democracy. This edited volume will appeal to academics, researchers, and advanced students in the fields of urban studies, particularly those with an interest in democratic theory; local democracy; participation and municipalities. It will also be relevant for practitioners of local governments, NGOs, and advocacy groups and activists working for solidarity networks between cities.

Download or read book Theory Conspiracy written by Frida Beckman and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-09-08 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theory Conspiracy provides a state-of-the-art collection that takes stage on the meeting and/or battlegrounds between conspiracy theory and theory-asconspiracy. By deliberately scrambling the syntax—conspiracy theory cum theory conspiracy—it seeks to open a set of reflections on the articulation between theory and conspiracy that addresses how conspiracy might rattle the sense of theory as such. In this sense, the volume also inevitably stumbles on the recent debates on postcritique. The suspicion that our ways of reading in the humanities have been far too suspicious, if not paranoid, has gained considerable attention in a humanities continuously questioned as superfluous at best and leftist and dangerous at worst. The chapters in this volume all approach this problematic from different angles. It features clear engaging writing by a set of contributors who have published extensively on questions of paranoia, conspiracy theory, and/or the state of theory today. This collection will appeal to readers interested in conspiracy theories, critical theory, and the future of humanities.

Download or read book The New Nomads written by Felix Marquardt and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-07-08 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have lost the plot when it comes to migration. In our collective consciousness, the term 'migration' conjures up images of hordes of refugees fleeing 'their' country, escaping on rafts and coming to invade 'ours'. When we think of migration, we think of (largely unwanted) immigration and its ills. We've got it all wrong. Far from being abnormal, the act of going in search of a better life is at the core of the human experience. And now a new kind of nomad is emerging. What used to be a movement largely from east to west, south to north, developing to developed country is becoming more of a multilateral phenomenon with each passing day. Young people from everywhere are moving everywhere. Or rather, they are moving to where they expect to improve their lives and are turning the world into a beauty contest of cities and regions and companies vying to attract them. They are doing so because movement has become a key to their emancipation. After centuries of becoming sedentary, the future of humanity and the key to its enlightenment in the 21st century lies in re-embracing nomadism. Migration fosters the qualities that will allow our children to flourish and succeed. Our times require more migration, not less. Part memoir, part generational manifesto, The New Nomad is both the chronicle of this revolution and a call to embrace it.

Download or read book The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms Ministry in a Secular Age written by Andrew Root and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Post-Christian life and society do not eliminate a desire for the transcendent; rather, they create an environment for new and divergent spiritual communities and practices to flourish. We are flooded with spiritualities that appeal to human desires for nonreligious personal transformation. But many fail to deliver because they fall into the trap of the self. In the last book of the Ministry in a Secular Age series, leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows the differences between these spiritualities and authentic Christian transformation. He explores the dangers of following or adapting these reigning mysticisms and explains why the self has become so important yet so burdened with guilt--and how we should think about both. To help us understand our confusing cultural landscape, he maps spiritualities using twenty of the best memoirs from 2015 to 2020 in which "secular mystics" promote their mystical and transformational pathways. Root concludes with a more excellent way--even a mysticism--centered on the theology of the cross that pastors and leaders can use to form their own imaginations and practices.

Download or read book Psychoanalysis and the Future of Global Politics written by Robert Samuels and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-10-02 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a unique approach by using psychoanalytic theory to explain how we can resolve the most important issues facing the world today and in the future. One of my main arguments is that we need to move beyond national politics in order to provide global solutions to global problems. However, there is a misplaced fear concerning global governance, and much of this phobia is derived from a misunderstanding of history and human psychology. Not only do we have to learn to give up our idealized investment in nations and nationalism, but we also have to move beyond seeing the world from the perspective of a victim fantasy. Since we often repress real signs of global progress, we experience the global present and the future in negative ways. To reverse this perspective, we need to first understand the incredible progress humans have made in the last two hundred years, but we also should not ignore the real threats we face.

Download or read book Architecture Philosophy and the Pedagogy of Cinema written by Nadir Lahiji and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-26 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophers on the art of cinema mainly remain silent about architecture. Discussing cinema as ‘mass art’, they tend to forget that architecture, before cinema, was the only existing ‘mass art’. In this work author Nadir Lahiji proposes that the philosophical understanding of the collective human sensorium in the apparatus of perception must once again find its true training ground in architecture. Building art puts the collective mass in the position of an ‘expert critic’ who identifies themselves with the technical apparatus of architecture. Only then can architecture regain its status as ‘mass art’ and, as the book contends, only then can it resume its function as the only ‘artform’ that is designed for the political pedagogy of masses, which originally belonged to it in the period of modernity before the invention of cinema.