Judith Butler, radical democracy and micro-politics

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

This chapter assesses the significance of micro-politics for Butler's understanding of radical democratic practice, and examines the politics of radical democracy, not just its theoretical contours. To this end, it focuses on two interrelated forms of micro-politics: ‘talking back’ (or linguistic resignification) and transformative bodily practices (or corporeal resignification). Although applauding her radicalism, the chapter nevertheless contends that what these two examples reveal are the limitations, from a democratic perspective, of Butler's project: its neglect of the anti-egalitarian tendencies rife within civil society and associational politics; its failure to attend to the numerical dimension of democratic politics; and its abandonment of the state as a site of democratic transformation.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Politics of Radical Democracy
EditorsAdrian Little, Moya Lloyd
Place of PublicationEdinburgh
PublisherEdinburgh University Press
Pages73-91
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9780748633999
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Nov 2008

Keywords

  • Judith Butler
  • micro-politics
  • corporeal resignification
  • radicalism
  • democratic politics
  • associational politics
  • civil society

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