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How do "people" (or "plebs") excluded from political institutions achieve political agency? Revisiting a series of marginal events, Martin Breaugh identifies fleeting yet decisive instances of emancipation in which the people took it upon themselves to become political subjects. Emerging during the Roman plebs's first secession in 494 B.C.E., the "plebeian" experience consists of an "underground" or unexplored configuration of political strategies to obtain political freedom, a political practice that rejects domination and, by means of concerted action, establishes an alternative form of power. Breaugh's study concludes in the nineteenth century and integrates ideas from sociology, philosophy, history, and political science. Organized around diverse case studies, his text is designed for class use and showcases the exchange between history and ideas that modifies the understanding and use of theoretical concepts over time. The plebeian experience also describes a recurring phenomenon scholars can use to clarify struggles for emancipation throughout history, expanding research into the political agency of the many and other cutting-edge concerns.
List of contents
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart I: What Is "the Plebs"?1. Historical Genesis of the Plebeian Principle2. Philosophical Genesis of the Plebeian PrinciplePart II: The Question of the Forms of Political OrganizationPrologue: On the Dominant Political Configuration of Modernity3. Sectional Societies and the Sans-Culottes of Paris4. The London Correspond2ing Society and the English Jacobins5. The Paris Commune of 1871 and the CommunardsPrologue: Social Bond6. The Sans-Culottes: A Political Bond of Fraternity7. The English Jacobins: A Political Bond of Plurality8. The Communards: A Political Bond of AssociationConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex
About the author
Martin Breaugh was educated at the University of Ottawa and Paris Diderot University and is associate professor of political theory at York University. His research focuses on the theory and practice of emancipatory politics and radical democracy.
