The last twenty years have witnessed a proliferation of radical social
and political movements around the world, in wave after wave of
struggles against intersecting forms of exploitation, domination, and
subalternization. From the International Women's Strike and Occupy, to
#BlackLivesMatter and direct action against the climate emergency, a
series of common questions have continually re-emerged as immediate
and practical challenges. How should radical political movements
relate to the state? What makes emancipatory politics fundamentally
different from both technocratic and populist models of "politics as
usual"? Which forms of organization are most likely to deepen and
extend the dynamics that led to the emergence of these movements in
the first place?To investigate the goal, nature, method, and
organizational forms of radical political engagement against the
neoliberal consensus, Peter D. Thomas draws on the work of Antonio
Gramsci, the Italian Communist Party leader and political theorist
best known for his ideas about hegemony. Hegemony is a concept that,
most commonly understood, describes either the way in which a
political system functions from the top down, through a culture of
passive consent, or a process of neutralizing cultural and political
differences to form unity in a nation state. Interestingly, both the
left and right have seized on this idea, but, of course, to different
political ends. In _Radical Politics_, Thomas argues that both of
these interpretations are misapprehensions of the radical potential of
Gramsci's ideas.Offering a new reading of Gramsci, Thomas contends
that hegemony is a process of differentiation in which political
culture is always changing, and always with the goal of moving toward
expanded freedom. Over the course of the book, Thomas looks at the way
in which various theorists have approached the dilemma of how to
engage productively in radical politics and explains why hegemony is a
method of doing politics rather than an end goal. A distinctive and
forceful contribution to ongoing debates about the nature and
orientation of contemporary emancipatory movements, _Radical Politics_
provides a counterintuitive interpretation of Gramsci's famous and
newly relevant work.
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On the Causes of Contemporary Emancipation
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780197528099
Publisert
2023
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter