{"product_id":"universality-and-identity-politics-9780231197700","title":"Universality and Identity Politics","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book develops a new conception of universality that helps us rethink political thought and action. Through a wide range of examples in contemporary politics, film, and history, \u003ci\u003eUniversality and Identity Politics\u003c\/i\u003e offers an antidote to the impasses of identity and an inspiring vision of twenty-first-century collective struggle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI used to be among those left-leaning academics who believe that universalism is problematic and that particularism represents a corrective to false universalism. Not anymore. McGowan shows that a genuinely emancipatory politics is intrinsically universalist, and he reveals the various ways in which identity politics inevitably serves the conservative establishment and traps us into a conception of politics as a struggle of one identity against others. \u003ci\u003eUniversality and Identity Politics \u003c\/i\u003eis a groundbreaking book. -- Mari Ruti, author of \u003ci\u003ePenis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePassionately yet patiently argued, \u003ci\u003eUniversality and Identity Politics\u003c\/i\u003e looks back at earlier debates surrounding the universal and mounts fresh defenses of it. More than timely, this book writes to the moment. -- Joan Copjec, author of \u003ci\u003eImagine There’s No Woman: Ethics and Sublimation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat is universality? With his signature exactitude, Todd McGowan radiantly argues that universality is what we lack in common, the absent foundation for a nonetheless necessary sociality. Against the many theories conflating universality with positive content and violent oppression, \u003ci\u003eUniversality and Identity Politics\u003c\/i\u003e illustrates how movements beyond the particular are indispensable for solidarity. Ceaseless catastrophes now rain down; McGowan boldly underwrites new political imaginings of equality and freedom. -- Anna Kornbluh, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Order of Forms: Realism, Formalism, and Social Space\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn calm, level-headed formulations that are as elegant as they are clear, Todd McGowan presents a crucial insight into all emancipatory political efforts. Those who want to liberate themselves without at the same time aiming at liberating all others do not lead an emancipatory struggle. As a result, they do not even liberate themselves. -- Robert Pfaller, author of \u003ci\u003eOn the Pleasure Principle in Culture: Illusions Without Owners\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe calls for uniting the process of emancipation for some with the universal project of emancipation for all. * Choice *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: Finding Universality\u003cbr\u003e1. Our Particular Age\u003cbr\u003e2. The Importance of Being Absent\u003cbr\u003e3. Universal Villains\u003cbr\u003e4. Capitalism’s Lack and Its Discontents\u003cbr\u003e5. This Is Identity Politics\u003cbr\u003e6. This Is Not Identity Politics\u003cbr\u003eConclusion: Avoiding the Worst\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50577254318423,"sku":"9780231197700","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780231197700.jpg?v=1746094569","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/universality-and-identity-politics-9780231197700","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}