The Politics of Responsibility
About the Book
The liberal notions of personal responsibility that have dominated political thinking in the West for more than a century are rooted in the familiar territory of individual will and causal blame, but these theories have been assailed as no longer adequate to explain or address the political demands of a global social structure. Informed by Marx, Foucault, and Butler, Chad Lavin argues for a "postliberal" theory of responsibility, formulating responsibility as a process that is anchored in a persistent ability to respond, not reproach. Lavin works this formulation through discussions of contemporary political issues such as globalization, police brutality, and abortion.About the Author
Chad Lavin is an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Tech.Reviews
"[A] fascinating political discussion of a stalwart ethical concept. . . . Recommended."--ChoiceBlurbs
"In a timely and provocative theoretical intervention, Lavin deftly critiques liberal notions of responsibility that have consistently forced us to assume political concepts such as limited causality and sovereign individuality. He argues that ontopolitical assumptions hinder our ability to develop truly relevant political responses to a variety of perplexing conditions that we confront in the twenty-first century."--Bradley J. Macdonald, author of Performing Marx: Contemporary Negotiations of a Living Tradition
"A very good job of demonstrating the unavoidability of the question of responsibility and its particular philosophical difficulties. It is often the case that philosophically sophisticated political theorists avoid the hot-button issues of current topics such as globalization, police brutality, and abortion; or, when contemporary issues are addressed, sophisticated analysis gives way to the standard slogans. One of the strengths of Lavin's work is that contemporary debates animate his philosophical discussion."--Jason Read, author of The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present
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