Description
Book SynopsisIn the specialized literature as well as in the eyes of regular citizens, social movements are often considered to be actors of democratization. Among other things, social movements criticize existing deficits in democratic systems, they promote practices of deliberation and enact non-hierarchical structures that challenge existing democratic institutions. Very often, these challenges emerge from the context of struggle against unjust situations involving social exclusion, economic inequalities or the violation of fundamental rights.
Democracy and the Struggle Against Injustice draws on the insights of one of the greatest American Philosophers John Dewey as well as on some central intuitions of Frankfurt School Critical Theory in order to account for the connection between the democratic potential of social movements and their capacity to articulate injustice and promote just social relations. Particularly, it develops the idea that this double capacity can be explained by introduction of the pragmatist notion of experimental inquiry into the analysis of the epistemic practices of the mobilized.
By introducing in a unique way pragmatist epistemology to the study of social movements, Democracy and the Struggle Against Injustice substantially contributes to account for their emancipatory potentials.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: From Massive Evictions to Deepening Democracy
PART I
Chapter 1: The Two Values of Democracy
Chapter 2: Axel Honneth: Struggle for Recognition and Democratic Advancement
Chapter 3: John Dewey: The Political Potential of Democracy's Epistemic Dimension
PART II
Chapter 4: From Contents to Practices: Points of Departure
Chapter 5: The Double Counter-Hegemonic Potential of Experimentalist Practices
Chapter 6: Experimental Epistemic Practices in Social Movements
PART III
Chapter 7: Consciousness-Rising Meetings as Experimental Inquiries
Chapter 8: Articulating a Sense of Powers: An Expressivist Reading of Dewey's Theory of Social Struggles
Conclusions
Bibliography
