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The subject of power (singular) and multiple social powers (plural) is unquestionably central to contemporary societies all over the globe. Growing stronger and expanding farther all the time, the world's anti-systemic movements have been forced to address this issue-the nature of power and powers-as among their most pressing debates. In the process, these movements have also been forced to consider the best possible strategy for confronting them. Should they seize political power, even if they run the risk of simply reproducing it? Should they destroy it altogether? Is it enough to destroy political power while economic, ideological, military, and religious powers remain untouched? And what is the most effective anti-capitalist and anti-systemic way to confront, defeat, and overcome the many different powers found in all present-day societies on Earth? To answer such questions, among others, this book discusses the rich, complex contributions of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, and neo-Zapatismo to a complicated and essential subject: the theory of power.
List of contents
Introduction: Power vs. (Counter)Power - What Power Cannot (Be) - Marx's Teaching(s): Social Power(s), Human Power(s) - (More) Marxist Teachings: The Power(s) of Money Capital, the Impotence of Political and State Power(s) - The Teachings of Michel Foucault: Macropower(s), Micropower(s), Punitive Power(s), Disciplinary Power(s) - The Teaching(s) of Neo- Zapatismo: Counter- power(s), Resistance(s), Autonomy(s) -In(Conclusion).
About the author
Carlos Antonio Aguirre Rojas has a Ph.D. in economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a post-doctoral degree in history from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. He is a full-time researcher at the UNAM¿s Institute for Social Research.
Robin Myers is a Mexico City-based poet and literary translator. Recent book-length translations include The Restless Dead by Cristina Rivera Garza, Cars on Fire by Mónica Ramón Ríos, and Animals at the End of the World by Gloria Susana Esquivel. She writes a monthly column on translation for Palette Poetry.
Summary
In this translation by Robin Myers, Carlos Antonio Aguirre Rojas interrogates the nature of power(s) in relation to global anti-systemic movements, considering the most effective ways to confront and overcome the present's intersecting, oppressive systems of power by turning back to Marx, Foucault, and neo-Zapatismo for a theory of power.
