Description
Book SynopsisUncovers theory of social change implicit in the writings of radical social theorists, such as Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau, Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau, and Slavoj i ek. This title illuminates how this new theory calls into question accepted views of social practices, subject formation, democratic interaction, hegemony, and more.
Trade Review"The dagger that begins it cuts through Rothenberg's book with a fine precision. It dissects in the works of several of the most influential theorists of our day a powerful and new concept of cause which often gets away from the authors who struggle to define it. Rothenberg's astute argument is richly woven, lucid, and highly compelling."
Joan Copjec, author of Imagine There's No Woman "We still don't know what a subject can do. We still don't know how to think subjective agency together with social causality. Rothenberg's path-breaking and systematic study of 'extimate causality,' combining psychoanalysis and emancipatory social theory, goes a long way towards formulating decisive new answers to these perennial questions."
Peter Hallward, Middlesex University
"Rothenberg's insights into the structure of the subject and its relevance for social and political theory are peerless. For anyone beginning to study the themes and thinkers covered in this book, this is the place to start."
Ed Pluth, California State University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments.
Foreword by Slavoj Zizek.
Introduction: The Excess of Everyday Life.
Chapter One: What Does the "Social" in Social Change Mean?
Chapter Two: Extimate Causality and the Social Subject of Excess.
Chapter Three: The Social Structures of Bourdieu and de Certeau.
Chapter Four: Butler's Embodied Agency.
Chapter Five: Laclau's Radical Democracy.
Chapter Six: Zizek's Political Act.
Chapter Seven: Sinthomic Ethics and Revolutionary Groups.
