Bodies of Democracy - Modes of Embodied Politics

Where are all the bodies? Political institutions are populated by living, breathing human beings, who eat, sleep, gesture, desire and suffer. And yet participants of the political realm are often depicted as disembodied minds, detached and distinct from their corporeal existence. Amanda Machin considers six embodied modes of democratic politics: representation, deliberation, disagreement, protest, occupation and counsel. Drawing on diverse thinkers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michael Polanyi, Simone de Beauvoir, Donna Haraway and Judith Butler, she offers an absorbing illustration of the ways human bodies are not only the disciplined objects of politics, but the generative subjects of democracy.

About the author

Amanda Machin is a professor of sociology at the University of Agder, Norway. Her research focuses on radical democracy and environmental politics.

Summary

Where are all the bodies? Political institutions are populated by living, breathing human beings, who eat, sleep, gesture, desire and suffer. And yet participants of the political realm are often depicted as disembodied minds, detached and distinct from their corporeal existence. Amanda Machin considers six embodied modes of democratic politics: representation, deliberation, disagreement, protest, occupation and counsel. Drawing on diverse thinkers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michael Polanyi, Simone de Beauvoir, Donna Haraway and Judith Butler, she offers an absorbing illustration of the ways human bodies are not only the disciplined objects of politics, but the generative subjects of democracy.

Additional text

»Eine fundierte Auseinandersetzung mit wichtigen Theoriedebatten der letzten Jahrzehnte. Brisante Fragen der Gegenwart, wie die Frage nach der Krise der Repräsentation oder die nach der Legitimität von Deliberation, werden engagiert aufgegriffen und aus feministischer und postmoderner Sicht kritisch reflektiert.«

Report

»Eine fundierte Auseinandersetzung mit wichtigen Theoriedebatten der letzten Jahrzehnte. Brisante Fragen der Gegenwart, wie die Frage nach der Krise der Repräsentation oder die nach der Legitimität von Deliberation, werden engagiert aufgegriffen und aus feministischer und postmoderner Sicht kritisch reflektiert.«

Brigitte Kerchner Neue Politische Literatur, 69 (2024) 20241114

Product details

• Authors: Machin Amanda, Amanda Machin
• Publisher: Transcript
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.09.2021
• EAN: 9783837649239
• ISBN: 978-3-8376-4923-9
• No. of pages: 186
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 18 mm x 234 mm
• Weight: 404 g
• Series: Edition Politik; Political Science; Political Science (COL); Edition Politik 84
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Humanities (general); Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political theories and the history of ideas; Soziologie, Politik, Politisches System: Demokratie, Politics, Participation, Political Science, Protest, Simone de Beauvoir, Embodiment, Political Philosophy, Judith Butler, Political Theory, Humankind, Social Sciences, auseinandersetzen, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Occupation, Deliberation, Donna Haraway, Bodies, Sociology and anthropology, Counsel, Identification, Philosophy and psychology, Culture and institutions, The political process, Social processes, Systems of governments and states, Disagreement, Michael Polyani