9781844676682-frontcover

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left

by Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau, and Slavoj Žižek
The Hegelian legacy, Left strategy, and post-structuralism versus Lacanian psychoanalysis.
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-structuralism and Lacanian psychoanalysis for a critical social theory. While the rigor 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.

Paperback, 330 pages

ISBN: 9781844676682

January 2011

$15.95 / £8.99

Other Editions

Paperback, 336 pages

ISBN: 9781859842782

July 2000

$24.95

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  • “If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible.”— Judith Butler at Occupy Wall Street video

    Judith Butler, author of Frames of War and Precarious Life, visited Occupy Wall Street to lend her support to the protesters there. In a rallying speech, amplified through the human microphone, she gave her thoughts on the reception of the movement and its demands.

    I came here to lend my support to you today, to offer my solidarity, for this unprecedented display of democracy and popular will. People have asked, 'So what are the demands? What are the demands all these people are making?' Either they say there are no demands and that leaves your critics confused - or they say that the demands for social equality and economic justice are impossible demands. And impossible demands, they say, are just not practical.

    If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible. If the right to shelter, food and employment are impossible demands, then we demand the impossible. If it is impossible to demand that those who profit from the recession redistribute their wealth and cease their greed then yes, we demand the impossible.

    But it is true that there are no demands that you can submit to arbitration here because we are not just demanding economic justice and social equality, we are assembling in public, we are coming together as bodies in alliance, in the street and in the square. We're standing here together making democracy, enacting the phrase 'We the people!'

     

    A video of Butler delivering her speech at Occupy Wall Street is available below.

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    By Kishani Widyaratna / 24 October 2011 / 1 comment

  • COMPETITION: Win the entire Radical Thinkers backlist!

    And here are the answers you've all been so patiently waiting for. Congratulations to our incredibly well-read winners!

    Get your radical thinking caps on...To celebrate the publication of Set 5 of the Radical Thinkers series, Verso is offering 2 lucky winners the chance to win all available titles in the five sets published to date.

    The highly popular series publishes new editions of important works of continental philosophy in beautifully-designed and affordable editions. Covering the full spectrum of critical thought, the series includes work from radical thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, Louis Althusser, Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord, Georg Lukács, Jean-Paul Sartre, Theodor Adorno and many more. 

    First published in 2005, there are now 60 titles in the series. In 2009, set 4 was launched with a stunning and acclaimed new cover design from Rumors, which has become a hallmark of the series. They have been widely praised, including in the Guardian, Bookforum and the New Statesman. 

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    By Tamar Shlaim Chris Webb / 22 August 2011 / 42 comments

  • Radical Thinkers: Judith Butler, Simon Critchley and Jacques Rancière

    To celebrate publication of the fifth set of books in Verso's acclaimed Radical Thinkers series, you're invited to listen to some audio from an October 2009 event entitled "Radical Thinkers: Judith Butler, Simon Critchley and Jacques Rancière on the importance of critical theory to social movements today." The event took place at the New School in New York City where angry masses had to be turned away due to over-capacity. 

    By Clara Heyworth / 12 January 2011 / post comment

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