The Political Thought of Jacques Rancière: Creating Equality

by Todd May

This book examines the political perspective of French thinker and historian Jacques Rancière. Rancière argues that a democratic politics emerges out of people’s acting under the presupposition of their own equality with those better situated in the social hierarchy. Todd May examines and extends this presupposition, offering a normative framework for understanding it, placing it in the current political context, and showing how it challenges traditional political philosophy and opens up neglected political paths. He demonstrates that the presupposition of equality orients political action around those who act on their own behalf―and those who act in solidarity with them―rather than, as with the political theories of John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Amartya Sen, those who distribute the social goods. As May argues, Rancière’s view offers both hope and perspective for those who seek to think about and engage in progressive political action.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Todd May was born in New York City. He is the author of 18 books of philosophy. He was philosophical advisor to NBC's hit sit-com The Good Place and one of the original contributors to the New York Times philosophy blog The Stone. Todd teaches philosophy at Warren Wilson College.

Reviews

[Jet R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting and relevant today. But May jumps very quickly, and I don’t think he understands Iris Marion Young well enough lol

[Alex Hui · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main focus of this book is a radical form of democracy emphasizing the presupposition of equality. In stark contrast to deliberative democracy, consensus is regarded as an obstacle to achieving equality in community. The criticism of current democratic system is not sound in all senses but offers us a investigation of the potential problems which are often neglected in name of protecting or promoting economic fortune for the whole society. I found this book pretty much thought-provoking in terms of relationships of classes in a democratic system, and the struggles of 'part with no part'— people with no say — in a society where passive equality is the mainstream.