Renata Salecl

"Drawing on philosophy, social and psychoanalytic theory, popular culture, and her own experience, Salecl explores how the passion for ignorance plays out in many different aspects of life today, from love, illness, trauma, and the fear of failure to genetics, forensic science, big data, and the Incel movement-and she concludes that ignorance is a complex phenomenon that can, on occasion, benefit individuals and society as a whole"--

What We Choose Not to Know and Why

A Passion for Ignorance

Kaygi Üzerine

We are encouraged from all sides to view our lives as being full of choices. Like the products on a supermarket shelf, our careers, our relationships, our bodies, our very identities seem to be there for the choosing. But paradoxically this seeming freedom to choose can create extreme anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy and guilt. The Tyranny of Choice explores how late capitalism's shrill exhortations to 'be oneself' can be a tyranny which only leads to ever-greater disquiet and how insistence on choice being a purely individual matter prevents social change.With wisdom, humour and sensitivity, Renata Salecl examines the complexity of the essential human capacity to choose which has become mired in consumerist ironies.

The Tyranny of Choice

We are encouraged from all sides to view our lives as being full of choices. Like the products on a supermarket shelf, our careers, our relationships, our bodies, our very identity seem to be there for the choosing. But paradoxically, this seeming freedom to choose can create extreme anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy. Choice explores how late capitalism's shrill exhortations to 'be oneself' can be a tyranny which only leads to ever-greater disquiet.Drawing on diverse examples from popular culture - from dating sites and relationship self-help books, to our obsession with imitating celebrities' lifestyles - and fusing sociology, psychoanalysis and philosophy, Salecl shows that choice is rarely based on a simple rational decision with a predictable outcome. With wisdom, humour and sensitivity, she examines the complexity of the essential human capacity to choose which has become mired in consumerist ironies.

Choice

SIC 3 ([sic] Series)

Sexuation

Slavoj Žižek

Mladen Dolar

Alenka Zupancic

Miran Bozovic

Stojan Pelko

Was Sie immer schon über Lacan wissen wollten und Hitchcock nie zu fragen wagten.

SIC 1 ([sic] Series)

Gaze and Voice as Love Objects

Sašo Dolenc

Matjaž Ambrož

Aleš Bunta

Miha Hafner

Aljoša Kravanja

Mojca Mihelj Plesničar

Sabina Zgaga

nevroznanost, kazensko pravo in kriminologija

Možgani na zatožni klopi

Drawing on vivid examples, Renata Salecl argues that what really produces anxiety is the attempt to get rid of it. Erudite and compelling - essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology and the cultural phenomenon of anxiety.

On Anxiety

Why, when we are desperately in love, do we endlessly block union with our love object? Why do we often destroy what we love most? Why do we search out the impossible object? Is it that we desire things because they are unavailable, and therefore, to keep desire alive, we need to prevent its fulfilment? Love and hate go hand in hand, since the subject is both attracted and repelled by the uncontrollable jouissance of the other. In contemporary society, intersubjective relations have changed with the decline of social prohibitions; but this change has not simply brought liberation, it has also triggered various forms of violence, including self-mutilation. In seeking out new forms of prohibition, don't young people who pierce their bodies have something in common with African immigrants who embrace clitoridectomy, or with women who act on their dates according to the instructions set out in the Rules? In Perversions of Love and Hate, Renata Salecl explores the disturbing and complex relationships between love and hate, violence and admiration, libidinal and destructive drives, through investigation of phenomena as diverse as the novels The Age of Innocence and The Remains of the Day, Hollywood melodramas, the Siren song, Ceaucescu's Rumania and the Russian performance artist Oleg Kulik, who acts like a dog and bites his audience. For Salecl--who questions the legitimacy of the calls for tolerance and respect by multiculturalists--practices such as body-mutilation are symptoms of the radical change that has affected subjectivity in contemporary society.

(Per)versions of Love and Hate

Samuel Beckett

Elias Canetti

David Joselit

Joan Simon

Jenny Holzer

A comprehensive look at the American artist's famous text works.

Slavoj Zizek

A Lacanian investigation of sexuality and sexual difference.

SIC 3

The first detailed Lacanian elaboration of this topic, Gaze and Voice as Love Objects examines the status of gaze, voice, and love in philosophy from Plato to Kant, in ideology from early Christianity to contemporary cynicism, in music from Hildegard of Bingen to Richard Wagner, in literature from Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence to Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, and in cinema from Michael Powell's Peeping Tom to Kieslowski's A Short Film on Love. Throughout, the contributors seek to show that the conflict between the sexes is the site of a larger battle over the destiny of modernity. Approaching its topic with utter disregard for predominant multiculturalist and deconstructionist commonplaces, and with insights into the underlying target of racist and sexist violence, this book offers surprising revelations into the nature of an ancient enigma - love.

An original and provocative exploration of our capacity to ignore what is inconvenient or traumatic Ignorance, whether passive or active, conscious or unconscious, has always been a part of the human condition, Renata Salecl argues. What has changed in our post-truth, postindustrial world is that we often feel overwhelmed by the constant flood of information and misinformation. It sometimes seems impossible to differentiate between truth and falsehood and, as a result, there has been a backlash against the idea of expertise, and a rise in the number of people actively choosing not to know. The dangers of this are obvious, but Salecl challenges our assumptions, arguing that there may also be a positive side to ignorance, and that by addressing the role of ignorance in society, we may also be able to reclaim the role of knowledge. Drawing on philosophy, social and psychoanalytic theory, popular culture, and her own experience, Salecl explores how the passion for ignorance plays out in many different aspects of life today, from love, illness, trauma, and the fear of failure to genetics, forensic science, big data, and the incel movement—and she concludes that ignorance is a complex phenomenon that can, on occasion, benefit individuals and society as a whole. The result is a fascinating investigation of how the knowledge economy became an ignorance economy, what it means for us, and what it tells us about the world today.

The rise of nationalist, racist and anti-feminist ideologies is one of the most frightening repercussions of the collapse of socialism. Using psychoanalytic theories of fantasy to investigate why such extremist ideologies have taken hold, Renata Salecl argues that the major social and political changes in post-communist Eastern Europe require a radical re-evaluation of notions of liberal theories of democracy. In doing so she offers a new approach to human rights and feminism grounded in her own active partipation in the struggles, first against communism and now against nationalism and anti-feminism.

Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Ideology after the Fall of Socialism

The Spoils of Freedom

Janne Teller

Kapka Kassabova

Julya Rabinowich

Leïla Slimani

Annelies Beck

Karolina Ramqvist

Hilary Cottam

Nora Ikstena

Gloria Wekker

Zsófia Bán

Ioana Nicolaie

Yvonne Hofstetter

Ana Pessoa

Saara Turunen

Asja Bakić

Silvia Bencivelli

Lisa Dwan

Maarja Kangro

Sofia Kouvelaki

Carine Krecké

Caroline Muscat

Nora Nadjarian

Bronka Nowicka

Tereza Nvotová

Edurne Portela

Apolena Rychlíková

Žydrūnė Vitaitė

In collaboration with Hay Festival and Wom@rts. Introduced by Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project. ‘To be European,’ writes Leïla Slimani, ‘is to believe that we are, at once, diverse and united, that the Other is different but equal.’ Despite these high ideals, however, there is a growing sense that Europe needs to be fixed, or at the least seriously rethought. The clamour of rising nationalism – alongside widespread feelings of disenfranchisement – needs to be addressed if the dreams of social cohesion, European integration, perhaps even democracy are to be preserved. This anthology brings together 28 acclaimed women writers, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs from across the continent to offer new perspectives on the future of Europe, and how it might be rebuilt. Featuring essays, fictions and short plays, Europa28 asks what it means to be European today and demonstrates – with clarity and often humour – how women really do see things differently. ‘Inspiring, essential, honest and deeply humane... This brilliant collection takes readers on a brave journey into our beloved continent, Europe, daring to tell the stories beyond its centres of power and privilege.’ - Elif Shafak

Writing by Women on the Future of Europe

Europa28

La claridad argumentativa de Salecl es una muestra más, no solo de su lucidez, sino de su capacidad para comprender los principales síntomas de la sociedad moderna capitalista y sistematizarlos de forma clara y sencilla. Sin intención de proponer respuestas fáciles ni recetas previsibles, a medida que se delinean los problemas se plantean más interrogantes que nos invitan a reflexionar y cuestionar nuestras prácticas. Los textos que componen este libro nos hablan directamente sobre el consumo, la ignorancia, el apuro, la soledad, la pobreza, la paternidad, la medicina y la posverdad.

Carrera hacia ninguna parte

Renata Salecl er filosof og sociolog. Hun er gaesteprofessor ved BIOS-centret pa London School of Economics og ved Birkbeck College School of Law. Hun er desuden seniorforsker pa Institut for kriminologi ved det Juridiske fakultet i Ljubljana, Slovenien, og tilbagevendende gaesteprofessor ved Cardozo School of Law i New York. Fra alle sider opfordres vi til at opfatte vores liv, som noget, der er fyldt med valg. Som varerne pa hylderne i supermarkedet lader vores karrierer, vores parforhold, vores kroppe, selve vores identitet til at vaere noget, vi kan vaelge imellem. Men paradoksalt nok kan denne tilsyneladende valgfrihed skabe ekstrem aengstelse og folelser af utilstraekkelighed og skyld. Valgets tyranni udforsker, hvordan senkapitalismens skingre formaninger om at 'vaere sig selv' kan vaere et tyranni, der kun forer til endnu storre uro, og hvordan en insisteren pa, at valg er et rent individuelt sporgsmal, forhindrer social forandring. Med forskellige eksempler fra populaerkultur og ved at fusionere sociologi, psykoanalyse og filosofi viser Salecl, at valg sjaeldent baseres pa en simpel rationel beslutning med et forudsigeligt resultat. Med klogt, humor og sensitivitet undersoger hun den kompleksitet, der er forbundet med menneskets essentielle evne til at vaelge, og nu har sat sig fast i forbrugeristis

Valgets Tyranni

Renata Salecl

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