Radical thinkers

227 pages ; 20 cm

In this vehement defense of the principle of democracy, Jacques Ranciere argues that the West can no longer simply extol the virtues of democracy by contrasting it with the horrors of totalitarianism. With Western governments exporting democracy via brute force, and reactionary strands in mainstream political opinion willing to abandon civil liberties, Ranciere argues that true democracy-government by all-represents a challenge to all elitist forms of power, which has earned it the fear and hatred of the new ruling class. In a compelling and timely analysis, Hatred of Democracy rethinks the subversive power of the democratic ideal. Social & Political Philosophy. Political Structures: Democracy.

A reflection on everyday existence in the ‘sphere of consumption of late Capitalism’, this work is Adorno’s literary and philosophical masterpiece.

Confronted with a renascent right and the continuing burden of grotesque inequality, Manning Marable argues that the black struggle must move beyond previous strategies for social change. The politics of black nationalism, which advocates the building of separate black institutions, is an insufficient response. The politics of integration, characterized by traditional middle-class organizations like the NAACP and Urban League, seeks only representation without genuine power. Instead, a transformationist approach is required, one that can embrace the unique cultural identity of African-Americans while restructuring power and privilege in American society. Only a strategy of radical democracy can ultimately deconstruct race as a social force. . Beyond Black and White brilliantly dissects the politics of race and class in the US of the 1990s. Topics include: the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy; the factors behind the rise and fall of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition; Benjamin Chavis and the conflicts within the NAACP; and the national debate over affirmative action. Marable outlines the current debates in the black community between liberals, "Afrocentrists," and the advocates of social transformation. He advances a political vision capable of drawing together minorities into a majority of the poor and oppressed, a majority which can throw open the portals of power and govern in its own name.

With race and the police once more burning issues, this classic work from one of America’s giants of black radicalism has lost none of its prescience or power One of America’s most historic political trials is undoubtedly that of Angela Davis. Opening with a letter from James Baldwin to Davis, and including contributions from numerous radicals such as Black Panthers George Jackson, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and Erica Huggins, this book is not only an account of Davis’s incarceration and the struggles surrounding it, but also perhaps the most comprehensive and thorough analysis of the prison system of the United State. Since the book was written, the carceral system in the US has seen unprecedented growth, with more of America’s black population behind bars than ever before. The scathing analysis of the role of prison and the policing of black populations offered by Davis and her comrades in this astonishing volume remains as pertinent today as the day it was first published. Featuring contributions from George Jackson, Bettina Aptheker, Bobby Seale, James Baldwin, Ruchell Magee, Julian Bond, Huey P. Newton, Erika Huggins, Fleeta Drumgo, John Clutchette, and others.

Although family values are frequently lamented for being in decline, our society continues to be structured around the nuclear family. The Anti-Social Family dissects the network of household, kinship and sexual relations that constitute the family form in advanced capitalist societies. This classic work explores the personal and social needs that the family promises to meet but more often denies, and proposes moral and political practices that go beyond the family to more egalitarian caring alternatives.

Ernest Mandel traces the development of Marx's economic ideas from the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts to the completion of the Grundrisse. In a series of crystalline chapters, he provides an overview of subjects central to Marxist economic theory. Mandel focuses on Marx's concept of alienation, which gained much currency among Marxists in the twentieth century, and traces the development of debates surrounding the labour theory of value, and Marx's writings on communism and "crisis." These discussions remain pertinent today, and these texts vital to all those who wish to interpret and to change the world.--

"A classic work of Marxist analysis, available unabridged for the first time Originally published in 1965, Reading Capital is a landmark of French thought and radical theory, which sought to reconstruct Western Marxism from its foundations. Previously only available in English in a highly abridged form, this 50th anniversary edition restores original chapters by Roger Establet, Pierre Macherey and Jacques Ranciere, accompanied by a major new introduction by Etienne Balibar on the book's continued impact. France's greatest philosophers scrutinize many of the most fundamental points in Marx's iconic text to reveal its philosophical core. From the Trade Paperback edition"--