Domination and Emancipation: Remaking critique

Description

A melancholy defeatism has become a hallmark of critical thought and leftist politics. A consequence of this has been an exaggerated focus on domination among critical theorists, leaving emancipation—along with questions of political organization and strategy—undertheorized at best, or disregarded as delusional, at worst. If emancipation still plays a role in critical reflection, it is most often in a “domesticated” form, made into a bedfellow of centrist liberalism. Recent events necessitate a different outlook, especially since the financial collapse of 2008 and the myriad movements—emancipatory as much as reactionary—it has spawned throughout the world. Through a series of dialogues and reflections by leading thinkers, scholars, and activists, Domination and Emancipation: Remaking Critique seeks to rebuild the emancipatory pole of critique and bring forward theoretical work that is in step with the struggles and aspirations of the moment. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments Note on Translations Introduction Bibliography Part I: Dialogues Chapter 1: Domination and Emancipation: For a Revival of Social Critique Historical Perspective Forces of Political Confrontation and Dangerous Liaisons A Critique of Inhibited Capitalism Emancipation and Institutions Conclusion Postscript: Sociology and Social Critique: Downward Turn or Revival? Postscript: Critique, Domination, Emancipation Bibliography Chapter 2: Domination and Emancipation in the Current Conjuncture Ideology, Hegemony, and Critique Political Parties and Emancipatory Organization Revolutionary Internationalism toward an Emancipatory Horizon Postscript: A Few Traps on the Way toward Emancipatory Social Critique, between The Matrix, Terminator, Kung Fu, Carole King, and James Taylor. Postscript Bibliography Part II: Emancipatory Subjects Chapter 3: Emancipation, Political, and Real Bibliography Chapter 4: On a Critical Realist Theory of Identity Positioning and Positionality Identification and Identities The Epistemic Value of Experience Identities, Their Implications, and Social Movements Bibliography Part III: Counter-Histories Chapter 5: Critical and Revolutionary Theory: For the Reinvention of Critique in the Age of Ideological Realignment Revolutionary Theory From Marxian Origins to the Washington School Defending the Western Status Quo Policing the Left Border of Critique Exorcising the Specter of Marx Liberal Ideology as the Grammar of Critique Left Anticommunism Revolutionary Theory Bibliography Chapter 6: Like a Riot: The Politics of Forgetfulness, Relearning the South, and the Island of Dr. Moreau Bibliography Part IV: Critical Tensions Chapter 7: Emancipation, Domination, and Critical Theory in the Anthropocene The Crisis of Marxism, the Climate Crisis, and the Critique of Progress Political Time, Ecology, and Critical Theory Between the Scholar and the Technician: Frankfurt School “Politics” Organizing Pessimism and the Liberation of the Negative Bibliography Chapter 8: Renewing Critical Theory in an Ultra-Conservative Context: Between the Social Sciences, Political Philosophy, and Emancipatory Engagement Academic Misadventures of Critique within French Sociology Tensions between the Critical Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and the Philosophy of Emancipation of Jacques Rancière Rethinking Emancipation in Light of Current Issues: Individuality, the Identitarianist Challenge, and the Politics of Open Being Conclusion: toward a New Approach to Theory Bibliography Chapter 9: Politics in Tensions. Counter-Currents for a Postcritical Age Domination without Emancipation: Time for Postcritical Politics? Party Lines and Undercurrents Eighteen Political Counter-Currents The Economy of Attention and the Politics of Tensions Media Electrifications and Political Counter-Currents Postcritical Vectorialist Power and the Triumph of Hingery Binarists and Potentialists Complicate Politics, Politicize Complexity What’s Left in a Politics of Tensions and Counter-Currents? Bibliography Index Notes on Contributors