This book argues for a more engaged deconstruction, one that grapples with actual social institutions and practices while not compromising in its articulation of the difficulties of Jacques Derrida's texts. Against more aestheticised versions of deconstructive politics, Martin argues for a fundamental relation of theory to practice. Using more revolutionary and unorthodox theories and practices of Marxism as a standard for engaged theory, Martin asks if radical deconstruction can develop a sense of urgency without falling into the reductivism and narrowly interest-oriented utilitarianism of more orthodox forms of Marxism. The book develops significant encounters with the work of Susan Bordo, Jean-Luc Nancy, Alex Callinicos, as well as Bataille, Blanchot, Foucault, Habermas, and Rorty. But the larger aim of the book is to reground the politics of anti-imperialism and internationalism in a post-Eurocentric frame. This work is a most extended engagement on deconstruction and social theory; it will therefore be of interest to social theorists and others interested in the ethical and political implications of the work of Jacques Derrida.
While scholars and theorists in academia will find this an important work, the book also aims to make sense of the politics of deconstruction for those outside of the academy.
- ISBN10 1573925993
- ISBN13 9781573925990
- Publish Date 1 October 1995 (first published 1 January 1995)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 23 August 2012
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Prometheus Books
- Imprint Humanity Books
- Format Paperback
- Pages 199
- Language English