Zizek and Communist Strategy: On the Disavowed Foundations of Global Capitalism

by Chris McMillan

Overview

Good theory; bad politics - this is how Zizek's works have been described. Now Chris McMillan argues that Zizek's reading of global capitalism could reinvent political subversion. He highlights the political consequences of Zizek's fundamental concepts, such as the Lacanian Real, universality and the communist hypothesis. He argues that Zizek's turn to Communism represents the ultimate significance of Zizek's work for the 21st century and a marked new direction for Zizekian theory.

While Zizek's work attracts a lot of labels, most of them pejorative - communist, conservative, anti-semantic - Chris McMillan identifies Zizek's unique and productive contribution to social and political theory, constructing his work as a response to the difficulties of contemporary social theory and the political deadlock of global capitalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748646647
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2012
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Chris McMillan is Academic Skills Adviser at the Brunel University, having been formerly based at Massey University in New Zealand. He has previously published in the International Journal of Zizek Studies, as well as acting as a guest editor.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

1 Introduction 1

2 Marxism after the Discursive Turn 23

3 Jouissance and Politics 48

4 Universality and the Trauma of the Real 76

5 Zizek's Capitalism: What Can Sexual Difference Tell Us about New Forms of Apartheid? 97

6 Zizek's Realpolitics 134

7 The Communist Hypothesis: Zizekian Utopia or Utopian Fantasy? 165

8 Conclusion 183

References 193

Index 203