Radical Social Change in the United States - Badiou's Apostle and the Post-Factual Moment

This book tackles the question of why the United States is so resistant to radical change towards economic justice and peace. Taking full stock of the despair that launched the popular support for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, Swanger historicizes the political paralysis of post-1974 United States that deepened already severe economic inequalities, asking how the terrain for social movements in the early  twenty-first-century US differs from that of the 1960s.  This terrain is marked by the entrenchment of neoliberalism, anti-intellectualism, and difficulties paradoxically posed by the ease of social media. Activists now must contend with a paralyzing "post-factual" moment. Alain Badiou's thought informs this book on breaking through contemporary political paralysis.  

List of contents

Introduction.- Paul: Patron Saint of the Post-Factual .- The Lure of the Ancient Regime .- Nothing But The Truth .- Nothing Cures Malaise Quite Like Torture .- To Have Seen Too Much: The 1960s and the Turning of the Camera .- Now What?.

About the author

Joanna Swanger is Associate Professor and Director of the Peace and Global Studies Program at Earlham College, USA. Her most recent publication is Rebel Lands of Cuba: The Campesino Struggles of Oriente and Escambray, 1934-1974 (2015).  Her scholarly work focuses on the intersection of social justice movements and resistance encountered by those movements. 

Summary

This book tackles the question of why the United States is so resistant to radical change towards economic justice and peace. Taking full stock of the despair that launched the popular support for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, Swanger historicizes the political paralysis of post-1974 United States that deepened already severe economic inequalities, asking how the terrain for social movements in the early  twenty-first-century US differs from that of the 1960s.  This terrain is marked by the entrenchment of neoliberalism, anti-intellectualism, and difficulties paradoxically posed by the ease of social media. Activists now must contend with a paralyzing “post-factual” moment. Alain Badiou’s thought informs this book on breaking through contemporary political paralysis.  

Product details

• Authors: Joanna Swanger
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2018
• EAN: 9783319820088
• ISBN: 978-3-31-982008-8
• No. of pages: 328
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 18 mm x 210 mm
• Weight: 446 g
• Illustrations: XIII, 328 p.
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political theories and the history of ideas; Verstehen, Amerika, B, Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte, Social Inequality, Politik und Staat, Human Rights, Democracy, Political Science, Political Theory, Social & ethical issues, Politics & government, Political structures: democracy, Political Science and International Studies, Social Structure, Social Inequality, United States of America, USA, Social Justice, Social Structure, Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights, US Politics, United States—Politics and government, American Politics, Gesellschaftliche Gruppen, Gemeinschaften und Identitäten