Emancipation(s)

By Ernesto Laclau

Book Overview

In Emancipation(s) , Ernesto Laclau addresses a central question: how have the changes of the last decade, together with the transformation in contemporary thought, altered the classical notion of "emancipation" as formulated since the Enlightenment? Our visions of the future and our expectations of emancipation, have been deeply affected by the changes of recent history: the end of the Cold War, the explosion of new ethnic and national identities, the social fragmentation under late capitalism, and the collapse of universal certainties in philosophy and social and historical thought. Laclau here begins to explore precisely how our visions of emancipation have been recast under these new conditions. Laclau examines the internal contradictions of the notion of "emancipation" as it emerged from the mainstream of modernity, as well as the relation between universalism and particularism which is inherent in it. He explores the making of political identities and the status of central notions in political theory such as "representation" and "power," focusing particularly on the work of Derrida and Rorty. Emancipation(s) is a significant contribution to the reshaping of radical political thought.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1844675769
• ISBN13: 9781844675760
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Verso
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

postmodern politics

This is an excellent book for those who would like to know how can we continue to do politics in our present post-modern world. In this book, Laclau continues his elaboration on how do to politics in face of fragmented social struggles. Laclau's essays on universalism and particularism offers an important contribution to understand the various groups that struggle for identification of their rights. There is an introduction of linguistic term of `empty signifier', that plays an important role to the world of politics. He also includes a critical assessment of Rorty's notion of Liberalism and comments on Derrida's work. Although the book is rather a short, its topic makes it quite dense that can take some time to go through.