Product Description

What is the contemporary legacy of Gramsci's notion of Hegemony? How can universality be reformulated now that its spurious versions have been so thoroughly criticized? In this ground-breaking project, Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Zizek engage in a dialogue on central questions of contemporary philosophy and politics. Their essays, organized as separate contributions that respond to one another, range over the Hegelian legacy in contemporary critical theory, the theoretical dilemmas of multiculturalism, the universalism- versus-particularism debate, the strategies of the Left in a globalized economy, and the relative merits of post-structumalism and Lacanian psychoanalysis for a critical social theory. While the rigour and intelligence with which these writers approach their work is formidable, Contingency, Hegemony, Universality benefits additionally from their clear sense of energy and enjoyment in a revealing and often unpredictable exchange.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #224528 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

About the Author
Judith Butler is Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex and The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection. Ernesto Laclau is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Essex. He is the author of Emancipation(s), New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, The Making of Political Identities and, with Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Slavoj Zizek is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Social Studies in Ljubljana. His books include The Sublime Object of Ideology, The Plague of Fantasies, The Ticklish Subject, and The Fragile Absolute, or Why the Christian legacy is worth fighting for.

Customer Reviews

A family feud makes crucial reading
This is a very important book - not because any of the contributors says anything especially original or pathbreaking, but because it's not very often that intellectuals bash out their differences in such a direct way. (This is not to say that the book is particularly accessible; I would imagine it is quite hard not to get lost in the debates if you don't have prior knowledge of poststructuralism). In fact, the three authors are quite similar: all three are inspired by a politics of lack to some degree, all three locate themselves within poststructuralism and all three claim to be providing a radical agenda for the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, they manage to find plenty to argue about. The falling-out between Zizek and Laclau (formerly close collaborators, with Zizek being one of only three guest authors in Laclau's New Reflections... book) is particularly spectacular, and stems from their very different interpretations of what a politics based on an "acceptance" of constitutive antagonism would mean.

There is so much in common that the book often reads like a family feud; the authors are fighting over their different claims to a common heritage. For a book on politics, there's also surprisingly little concrete discussion of political movements. I still think this book is a very worthwhile read for anyone who can make sense of the often heavy theoretical language. It's a bit like watching a soap opera set in a university, and a welcome relief from the faked politeness and the invisibility which usually surrounds academic disputes. For once, the dirty linen is out in the open, and it makes for intriguing reading.

A demanding but rewarding read on the philosophy of the left
This book takes the form of a series of short essays by Butler, Zizek and Laclau. Each of these writers has been influential over the last few years in developing new ideas and thinking through issues for socialists and people concerned with justice and equality.

It is fascinating to follow their debates as they set out questions for each other to answer, and then engage in careful consideration and argument of each others perspectives, coming back on each other and clarifying their differences. The process of inter-action is a real help to readers who want to get their head rounds 'isms' and theories which are often thrown around in university and intellectual debates about political strategy, but which are rarely set out in as interesting a form as this.

A central concern of the book is to develop a well grounded understanding of how democratic politics should work, and the tensions this involves. Hopefully many readers will be inspired to move from the philosophical debates clarified here to really try and make a difference to the quality of political life in the real world.