Utopia or Bust

Utopia or Bust

Author: Benjamin Kunkel

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2014-03-11

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1781683271

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After the financial crash and the great recession, the media rediscovered Karl Marx, socialist theory, and the very idea that capitalism can be questioned. But in spite of the publicity, the main paths of contemporary critical thought have gone unexplored outside of the academy. Benjamin Kunkel’s Utopia or Bust leads readers – whether politically committed or simply curious – through the most important critical theory today. Written with the wit and verve of Kunkel’s best-selling novel, Indecision, this introduction to contemporary Leftist thinkers engages with the revolutionary philosophy of Slavoj Žižek, the economic analyses of David Graeber and David Harvey, and the cultural diagnoses of Fredric Jameson. Discussing the ongoing crisis of capitalism in light of ideas of full employment, debt forgiveness, and “fictitious capital,” Utopia or Bust is a tour through the world of Marxist thought and an examination of the basis of Western society today.


Book Synopsis Utopia or Bust by : Benjamin Kunkel

Download or read book Utopia or Bust written by Benjamin Kunkel and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the financial crash and the great recession, the media rediscovered Karl Marx, socialist theory, and the very idea that capitalism can be questioned. But in spite of the publicity, the main paths of contemporary critical thought have gone unexplored outside of the academy. Benjamin Kunkel’s Utopia or Bust leads readers – whether politically committed or simply curious – through the most important critical theory today. Written with the wit and verve of Kunkel’s best-selling novel, Indecision, this introduction to contemporary Leftist thinkers engages with the revolutionary philosophy of Slavoj Žižek, the economic analyses of David Graeber and David Harvey, and the cultural diagnoses of Fredric Jameson. Discussing the ongoing crisis of capitalism in light of ideas of full employment, debt forgiveness, and “fictitious capital,” Utopia or Bust is a tour through the world of Marxist thought and an examination of the basis of Western society today.

Utopia - Or Bust

Utopia - Or Bust

Author: Philip Garner

Publisher: Gower Publishing Company, Limited

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 9780859650946

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Book Synopsis Utopia - Or Bust by : Philip Garner

Download or read book Utopia - Or Bust written by Philip Garner and published by Gower Publishing Company, Limited. This book was released on 1985 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Utopia Or Bust

Utopia Or Bust

Author: Yanyara

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2008-07-18

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1435731085

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Kristina from Munich preaches and practices relationships without ownership to replace boredom in bedrooms with ecstasy of sharing. Ria from London designs a borderless world that promotes rainbow-loving to dissolve racial distinctions. Cathy from Toronto and Richard from New York craft a surreptitious mechanism to painlessly extract billions out of billionaires with consumer-dictated prices, and twenty-hour work weeks that leave more time for play. Trudy from Stockholm lays out leaderless rule truly by the people. Michiko from Kyoto achieves end of pointless conflicts to pay for the freedom dance. Going past marvelous images portrayed in Thomas More's Utopia - the Sixteenpack, a group of nine women and seven men, network their energies to demonstrate how easy it is to sell a honey-dipped plan to get there from where we are. In this book, working women, frustrated housewives, underpaid workers, and over-stressed CEOs will discover refreshing new answers to all their annoying little problems.


Book Synopsis Utopia Or Bust by : Yanyara

Download or read book Utopia Or Bust written by Yanyara and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-07-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kristina from Munich preaches and practices relationships without ownership to replace boredom in bedrooms with ecstasy of sharing. Ria from London designs a borderless world that promotes rainbow-loving to dissolve racial distinctions. Cathy from Toronto and Richard from New York craft a surreptitious mechanism to painlessly extract billions out of billionaires with consumer-dictated prices, and twenty-hour work weeks that leave more time for play. Trudy from Stockholm lays out leaderless rule truly by the people. Michiko from Kyoto achieves end of pointless conflicts to pay for the freedom dance. Going past marvelous images portrayed in Thomas More's Utopia - the Sixteenpack, a group of nine women and seven men, network their energies to demonstrate how easy it is to sell a honey-dipped plan to get there from where we are. In this book, working women, frustrated housewives, underpaid workers, and over-stressed CEOs will discover refreshing new answers to all their annoying little problems.

Utopia-- Or Bust!

Utopia-- Or Bust!

Author: Philip Garner

Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 77

ISBN-13: 9780933328990

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A madcap inventor presents an innovative and ingenious selection of life-enhancing new products and creations


Book Synopsis Utopia-- Or Bust! by : Philip Garner

Download or read book Utopia-- Or Bust! written by Philip Garner and published by Putnam Publishing Group. This book was released on 1984 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A madcap inventor presents an innovative and ingenious selection of life-enhancing new products and creations

DIY Utopia

DIY Utopia

Author: Amber Day

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2016-12-22

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1498523897

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At first glance, contemporary popular culture, filled with bleak images of the future, seems to have given up on the possibility of positive collective change. Below the surface, however, alternative culture is rife with artist-led projects, activist movements, and subcultural communities of interest that seek to spark the collective imagination and to encourage hunger for alternatives. More playfully self-conscious than past utopian movements, today’s are often whimsical or ironic, but are still entirely earnest. Artists invite us to re-author city maps, or archive individual ideas for the future, while maker collectives urge us to rethink our relationship to consumer goods. All seem to have grown out of a similar do-it-yourself ethos and alternative culture. One of the central conflicts informing these case studies is that while it remains immensely difficult to envision anything outside of the current system of consumer capitalism, there is nevertheless a powerful desire to take it apart in piecemeal ways. We see the longing for new social and political narratives, new forms of communion and sociability, and new imaginings of the possible, longings that are currently unmet by mainstream culture, but that are taking expression in myriad ways at the local level. Taken as a whole, this collection examines what our grand ideals and playful daydreams tell us about ourselves.


Book Synopsis DIY Utopia by : Amber Day

Download or read book DIY Utopia written by Amber Day and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2016-12-22 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At first glance, contemporary popular culture, filled with bleak images of the future, seems to have given up on the possibility of positive collective change. Below the surface, however, alternative culture is rife with artist-led projects, activist movements, and subcultural communities of interest that seek to spark the collective imagination and to encourage hunger for alternatives. More playfully self-conscious than past utopian movements, today’s are often whimsical or ironic, but are still entirely earnest. Artists invite us to re-author city maps, or archive individual ideas for the future, while maker collectives urge us to rethink our relationship to consumer goods. All seem to have grown out of a similar do-it-yourself ethos and alternative culture. One of the central conflicts informing these case studies is that while it remains immensely difficult to envision anything outside of the current system of consumer capitalism, there is nevertheless a powerful desire to take it apart in piecemeal ways. We see the longing for new social and political narratives, new forms of communion and sociability, and new imaginings of the possible, longings that are currently unmet by mainstream culture, but that are taking expression in myriad ways at the local level. Taken as a whole, this collection examines what our grand ideals and playful daydreams tell us about ourselves.

Political Uses of Utopia

Political Uses of Utopia

Author: S. D. Chrostowska

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2017-03-21

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 0231544316

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Utopia has long been banished from political theory, framed as an impossible—and possibly dangerous—political ideal, a flawed social blueprint, or a thought experiment without any practical import. Even the "realistic utopias" of liberal theory strike many as wishful thinking. Can politics think utopia otherwise? Can utopian thinking contribute to the renewal of politics? In Political Uses of Utopia, an international cast of leading and emerging theorists agree that the uses of utopia for politics are multiple and nuanced and lie somewhere between—or, better yet, beyond—the mainstream caution against it and the conviction that another, better world ought to be possible. Representing a range of perspectives on the grand tradition of Western utopianism, which extends back half a millennium and perhaps as far as Plato, these essays are united in their interest in the relevance of utopianism to specific historical and contemporary political contexts. Featuring contributions from Miguel Abensour, Étienne Balibar, Raymond Geuss, and Jacques Rancière, among others, Political Uses of Utopia reopens the question of whether and how utopianism can inform political thinking and action today.


Book Synopsis Political Uses of Utopia by : S. D. Chrostowska

Download or read book Political Uses of Utopia written by S. D. Chrostowska and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utopia has long been banished from political theory, framed as an impossible—and possibly dangerous—political ideal, a flawed social blueprint, or a thought experiment without any practical import. Even the "realistic utopias" of liberal theory strike many as wishful thinking. Can politics think utopia otherwise? Can utopian thinking contribute to the renewal of politics? In Political Uses of Utopia, an international cast of leading and emerging theorists agree that the uses of utopia for politics are multiple and nuanced and lie somewhere between—or, better yet, beyond—the mainstream caution against it and the conviction that another, better world ought to be possible. Representing a range of perspectives on the grand tradition of Western utopianism, which extends back half a millennium and perhaps as far as Plato, these essays are united in their interest in the relevance of utopianism to specific historical and contemporary political contexts. Featuring contributions from Miguel Abensour, Étienne Balibar, Raymond Geuss, and Jacques Rancière, among others, Political Uses of Utopia reopens the question of whether and how utopianism can inform political thinking and action today.

Utopia in the Age of Survival

Utopia in the Age of Survival

Author: S. D. Chrostowska

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2021-10-19

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1503630005

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A pathbreaking exploration of the fate of utopia in our troubled times, this book shows how the historically intertwined endeavors of utopia and critique might be leveraged in response to humanity's looming existential challenges. Utopia in the Age of Survival makes the case that critical social theory needs to reinstate utopia as a speculative myth. At the same time the left must reassume utopia as an action-guiding hypothesis—that is, as something still possible. S. D. Chrostowska looks to the vibrant, visionary mid-century resurgence of embodied utopian longings and projections in Surrealism, the Situationist International, and critical theorists writing in their wake, reconstructing utopia's link to survival through to the earliest, most radical phase of the French environmental movement. Survival emerges as the organizing concept for a variety of democratic political forms that center the corporeality of desire in social movements contesting the expanding management of life by state institutions across the globe. Vigilant and timely, balancing fine-tuned analysis with broad historical overview to map the utopian impulse across contemporary cultural and political life, Chrostowska issues an urgent report on the vitality of utopia.


Book Synopsis Utopia in the Age of Survival by : S. D. Chrostowska

Download or read book Utopia in the Age of Survival written by S. D. Chrostowska and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pathbreaking exploration of the fate of utopia in our troubled times, this book shows how the historically intertwined endeavors of utopia and critique might be leveraged in response to humanity's looming existential challenges. Utopia in the Age of Survival makes the case that critical social theory needs to reinstate utopia as a speculative myth. At the same time the left must reassume utopia as an action-guiding hypothesis—that is, as something still possible. S. D. Chrostowska looks to the vibrant, visionary mid-century resurgence of embodied utopian longings and projections in Surrealism, the Situationist International, and critical theorists writing in their wake, reconstructing utopia's link to survival through to the earliest, most radical phase of the French environmental movement. Survival emerges as the organizing concept for a variety of democratic political forms that center the corporeality of desire in social movements contesting the expanding management of life by state institutions across the globe. Vigilant and timely, balancing fine-tuned analysis with broad historical overview to map the utopian impulse across contemporary cultural and political life, Chrostowska issues an urgent report on the vitality of utopia.

The American Utopia

The American Utopia

Author: Ėduard I︠A︡kovlevich Batalov

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis The American Utopia by : Ėduard I︠A︡kovlevich Batalov

Download or read book The American Utopia written by Ėduard I︠A︡kovlevich Batalov and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

A Primer on Utopian Philosophy

A Primer on Utopian Philosophy

Author: Jonathan Greenaway

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2024-03-29

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 180341670X

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The utopian project lies in ruins, but perhaps in our present moment, there are elements from the history of thought that can provide fresh resources for utopianism. In this groundbreaking introduction, Jon Greenaway explores the work of German philosopher Ernst Bloch, whose complex and challenging philosophy is a primer for a philosophical renewal of the struggle for a better world.


Book Synopsis A Primer on Utopian Philosophy by : Jonathan Greenaway

Download or read book A Primer on Utopian Philosophy written by Jonathan Greenaway and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2024-03-29 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The utopian project lies in ruins, but perhaps in our present moment, there are elements from the history of thought that can provide fresh resources for utopianism. In this groundbreaking introduction, Jon Greenaway explores the work of German philosopher Ernst Bloch, whose complex and challenging philosophy is a primer for a philosophical renewal of the struggle for a better world.

No Other Planet

No Other Planet

Author: Mathias Thaler

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-09-22

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1009034553

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Visions of utopia – some hopeful, others fearful – have become increasingly prevalent in recent times. This groundbreaking, timely book examines expressions of the utopian imagination with a focus on the pressing challenge of how to inhabit a climate-changed world. Forms of social dreaming are tracked across two domains: political theory and speculative fiction. The analysis aims to both uncover the key utopian and dystopian tendencies in contemporary debates around the Anthropocene; as well as to develop a political theory of radical transformation that avoids not only debilitating fatalism but also wishful thinking. This book juxtaposes theoretical interventions, from Bruno Latour to the members of the Dark Mountain collective, with fantasy and science fiction texts by N. K. Jemisin, Kim Stanley Robinson and Margaret Atwood, debating viable futures for a world that will look and feel very different from the one we live in right now.


Book Synopsis No Other Planet by : Mathias Thaler

Download or read book No Other Planet written by Mathias Thaler and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-09-22 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Visions of utopia – some hopeful, others fearful – have become increasingly prevalent in recent times. This groundbreaking, timely book examines expressions of the utopian imagination with a focus on the pressing challenge of how to inhabit a climate-changed world. Forms of social dreaming are tracked across two domains: political theory and speculative fiction. The analysis aims to both uncover the key utopian and dystopian tendencies in contemporary debates around the Anthropocene; as well as to develop a political theory of radical transformation that avoids not only debilitating fatalism but also wishful thinking. This book juxtaposes theoretical interventions, from Bruno Latour to the members of the Dark Mountain collective, with fantasy and science fiction texts by N. K. Jemisin, Kim Stanley Robinson and Margaret Atwood, debating viable futures for a world that will look and feel very different from the one we live in right now.