Articulated Experiences: Toward a Radical Phenomenology of Contemporary Social Movements (Suny Series in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences)

Analyzes new social movements and their ramifications for social and political theory.

By reexamining the very foundations of everyday acting and thinking and stepping into the open expanse of a possible transition to a postmodern era, this book presents a radical phenomenological approach to the study of contemporary social movements. It offers a theory of acting that refuses to surrender to norms and legislations and thus always intimates a mode of thinking that challenges various manifestations of ultimacy. Vahabzadeh invites us to radically rethink many basic principles that inform our lives, such as the democratic discourse, the concept of rights, liberal democratic regimes, time and epochs, oppression, acting, and the practice of sociology, in an effort to instate a reworked concept of experience in theories about social movements.

??an ambitious project that constructs an arc connecting the philosophy of Derrida, Lyotard, Heidegger, and Nietzsche to a body of literature dealing with social movements ? [It] is ambitious in more than one sense as it leaves mainstream sociology and philosophy behind, heading towards an epoch of thinking and poetry.? — Thesis Eleven

?An impressive aspect of this book is the way in which the author cuts across disciplines. He is clearly at home in sociological theory and is well-versed in contemporary philosophy, rhetoric, and literary criticism.? ? Ernesto Laclau, editor of The Making of Political Identities

?This is an excellent analysis of new social movements and their ramifications for social and political theory. The author provides a number of new insights in organizing and interpreting the many theories involved. A first-rate survey.? ? Lawrence Hatab, author of Ethics and Finitude: Heideggerian Contributions to Moral Philosophy