Телеграм канал «Политическая теория и философия (Political theory and philosophy)»

Brian Charles - A Genealogy of Populism: The Transmission of a Transatlantic Concept

This book traces the lineage and descent of ideas about populism within academic literature. Contemporary conceptions and definitions of populism are mostly, if not exclusively, pejorative, and used as an epithet for fascism, authoritarianisms of all stripes, and troubling forms of mass mobilizations. Adopting a genealogical approach, that investigates how the present arose out of the contingencies of the past, this book examines the consequential role played by American scholars of the 1950s in redefining the term away from its origins as a self-designation for a fledgling nineteenth century third party in the United States to a catch-all epithet for the very worst kinds of politics. It argues that the transmission of this pejorative definition to the European academy of the 1970s and beyond has bequeathed contemporary populism scholarship a troubling legacy that has largely gone unexamined and unquestioned. By demonstrating the lineage of contemporary ideas about populism, the book suggests that they rest on far flimsier intellectual foundations than is often assumed and that the concept of populism as a dangerous form of mass-based politics is more problematic and contestable than it appears.

Alan P. Kirman - Whom or What Does the Representative Individual Represent?

A modern economy presents a picture of millions of people, either as individuals or organized into groups and firms, each pursuing their own disparate interests in a rather limited part of the environment. Somehow, these varied individual activities are more or less coordinated and some relative order emerges. Economists commonly explain that this is due to Adam Smith's "invisible hand," and that despite the conflicting interests of individuals, the result of the pursuit of their selfish ends is socially satisfactory. The market provides the mechanism which links and coordinates all the activities being pursued by individuals.

Paradoxically, the sort of macroeconomic models which claim to give a picture of economic reality (albeit a simplified picture) have almost no activity which needs such coordination. This is because typically they assume that the choices of all the diverse agents in one sector consumers for example can be considered as the choices of one "representative" standard utility maximizing individual whose choices coincide with the aggregate choices of the heterogeneous individuals.

Л. Томин - Рабочий класс в постсоветской России: между автономией и кооптацией

Рецензия на книгу М. Кулаева «Профсоюзы, рабочие движения и гегемония в современной России» (М.: Издательство Института Гайдара, 2023)

Steven Loyal - Bourdieu's Theory of the State: A Critical Introduction

This book critically examines Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the state by assessing its theoretical and empirical value. Steven Loyal expertly situates Bourdieu's work within the context of both classical and modern theories of the state, providing a comprehensive frame of reference. Finally, Loyal discusses Bourdieu's theoretical limitations and projects how his theory of the state might be utilized in the future.