Excessive Subject: A New Theory of Social Change
Polity Press (2010)
| Abstract | In The Excessive Subject: A New Theory of Social Change, Molly Anne Rothenberg uncovers an innovative 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. Through case studies of these writers' work, Rothenberg illuminates how this new theory calls into question currently accepted views of social practices, subject formation, democratic interaction, hegemony, political solidarity, revolutionary acts, and the ethics of alterity. Finding a common dissatisfaction with the dominant paradigms of social structures in the authors she discusses, Rothenberg goes on to show that each of these thinkers makes use of Lacan's investigations of the causality of subjectivity in an effort to find an alternative paradigm. Labeling this paradigm 'extimate causality', Rothenberg demonstrates how it produces a nondeterminacy, so that every subject bears some excess; paradoxically, this excess is what structures the social field itself. Whilst other theories of social change, subject formation, and political alliance invariably conceive of the elimination of this excess as necessary to their projects, the theory of extimate causality makes clear that it is ineradicable. To imagine otherwise is to be held hostage to a politics of fantasy. As she examines the importance as well as the limitations of theories that put extimate causality to work, Rothenberg reveals how the excess of the subject promises a new theory of social change. By bringing these prominent thinkers together for the first time in one volume, this landmark text will be sure to ignite debate among scholars in the field, as well as being an indispensable tool for students | |||||||||
| Keywords | Social change Social sciences Philosophy | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Buy the book | $21.11 direct from Amazon (16% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 074564824X 9780745648248 | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesSusan Visvanathan (ed.) (2001/2009). Structure and Transformation: Theory and Society in India. Oxford University Press.
Andreas Wimmer & Reinhart Kössler (eds.) (2006). Understanding Change: Models, Methodologies, and Metaphors. Palgrave Macmillan.
David Goldblatt (ed.) (2000). Knowledge and the Social Sciences: Theory, Method, Practice. Routledge, in Association with Open University.
Theodore R. Schatzki (1996). Social Practices: A Wittgensteinian Approach to Human Activity and the Social. Cambridge University Press.
Raymond Boudon & Mohamed Cherkaoui (eds.) (2000). Central Currents in Social Theory. Sage Publications.
Drucilla Cornell (1993). Transformations: Recollective Imagination and Sexual Difference. Routledge.
David Harris (2003). Teaching Yourself Social Theory. Sage Publications.
H. Fallding (1975). Book Reviews : The Concept of Social Change, A Critique of the Functionalist Theory of Social Change. By ANTHONY D. SMITH. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, I973. Pp. Ix+I98. $6.25 (Paper). [REVIEW] Philosophy of the Social Sciences 5 (2):223-227.
Desh Raj Sirswal (2011). Philosophy of Social Change: Need of an Indian Model. In Desh Raj Sirswal (ed.), The Positive Philosophy.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-05-19Total downloads6 ( #145,547 of 549,065 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
