Description
Book SynopsisArgues that efforts to outlaw hate speech and pornography legitimize the state. This book insists that true democracy requires sharing power, not regulation by it. It applies this argument to various topics, from the basis of litigiousness in political life to the appearance on the academic Left of themes of revenge and a thwarted will to power.
Trade Review"Wendy Brown undertakes a critical analysis of late modern state power to reveal how identity politics translated into rights claims ... [This study] significantly advances our understanding of aspects of politics where particular identities and universal rights are currently in conflict."--American Political Science Review
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Ch. 1 Introduction: Freedom and the Plastic Cage 3 Ch. 2 Postmodern Exposures, Feminist Hesitations 30 Ch. 3 Wounded Attachments 52 Ch. 4 The Mirror of Pornography 77 Ch. 5 Rights and Losses 96 Ch. 6 Liberalism's Family Values 135 Ch. 7 Finding the Man in the State 166 Index 197
