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Philosophy General

Rethinking the Political

The Sacred, Aesthetic Politics, and the Collège de Sociologie

by (author) Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2011
Category
General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773586673
    Publish Date
    Dec 2011
    List Price
    $110.00

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Description

Rethinking the Political demonstrates that the Collège de Sociologie's quest to create a new place for the sacred in modern collective life ostensibly entailed avoiding the theorization of both aesthetics and politics. While the Collège condemned manipulation by totalitarian regimes, its understanding of community also led to a rejection of democratic and communist forms of political organization, leaving the group open to accusations of flirting with fascism. Acknowledging these political ambiguities, the author goes beyond a narrow ideological reading to reveal the Collège's important contribution to our thinking about the relationships between community formation, politics, aesthetics, and the sacred in the modern world. She expands her historical account of the members' thought, including their relationship to Surrealism, beyond the group's dissolution, and shows how the work of Claude Lefort extends, but also resolves, many of the Collège's key theoretical insights. A fascinating study of some of the twentieth-century's most daring thinkers, Rethinking the Political offers crucial insights into the contradictions at play in modern notions of community that still resonate today.

About the author

Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi's profile page