sine qua non
(la)
something that is absolutely needed
159
To say that productivity increases only by dint of constant socio-technical development amounts to claiming that a growing expenditure of energy is the sine qua non of profit creation.
notable
9 years ago
To say that productivity increases only by dint of constant socio-technical development amounts to claiming that a growing expenditure of energy is the sine qua non of profit creation.
notable
9 years ago
subaltern
(en)
(adj) of lower status; (noun) an officer in the British army below the rank of captain, especially a second lieutenant
169
The industrial working class was fragmented, while formerly auxiliary subaltern sectors made their voice heard independently. The outcome was the situation of indeterminacy we are still in today, which is prompting more sophisticated theoretical accounts.
notable
9 years ago
The industrial working class was fragmented, while formerly auxiliary subaltern sectors made their voice heard independently. The outcome was the situation of indeterminacy we are still in today, which is prompting more sophisticated theoretical accounts.
notable
9 years ago
etiology
(en)
(noun) cause, origin / (noun) the cause of a disease or abnormal condition / (noun) a branch of knowledge concerned with causes / (noun) a branch of medical science concerned with the causes and origins of diseases
174
Rancière proposes an aetiology of the degeneration to which politics is liable. It is sometimes transformed into ‘archi-politics’.
notable
9 years ago
Rancière proposes an aetiology of the degeneration to which politics is liable. It is sometimes transformed into ‘archi-politics’.
notable
9 years ago
vanishing mediator
(en)
a concept that exists to mediate between two opposing ideas, as a transition occurs between them. At the point where one idea has been replaced by the other, and the concept is no longer required, the mediator vanishes. Fredric Jameson introduced the term in a 1973 essay; used by Žižek
184
According to Žižek, the subject is a ‘vanishing mediator’.39 This concept is adopted from Jameson. In the latter it refers to any phenomenon that allows another phenomenon to emerge and disappears once it has performed that task.
notable
9 years ago
According to Žižek, the subject is a ‘vanishing mediator’.39 This concept is adopted from Jameson. In the latter it refers to any phenomenon that allows another phenomenon to emerge and disappears once it has performed that task.
notable
9 years ago
doxa
(grk)
a Greek word meaning common belief or popular opinion (the root of words like orthodox and heterodox)
187
he argues that the form of domination which obtains in the economic sphere – exploitation – possesses primacy over other forms of oppression. Together with his desire to rehabilitate the Cartesian subject, this is a second thesis which sees the philosopher oppose the reigning doxa in ‘western academia’.
on Žižek
notable
9 years ago
he argues that the form of domination which obtains in the economic sphere – exploitation – possesses primacy over other forms of oppression. Together with his desire to rehabilitate the Cartesian subject, this is a second thesis which sees the philosopher oppose the reigning doxa in ‘western academia’.
on Žižek
notable
9 years ago
reifying
(en)
make (something abstract) more concrete or real
187
Žižek adopts the Marxist argument of ‘reification’ developed, in particular, by Lukács in History and Class Consciousness (1923).
notable
9 years ago
Žižek adopts the Marxist argument of ‘reification’ developed, in particular, by Lukács in History and Class Consciousness (1923).
notable
9 years ago
imbricated
(en)
arranged (scales, sepals, plates, etc.) so that they overlap like roof tiles
192
An imbrication of the natural and the artificial is now the rule, and their separation is an increasingly rare exception with the passage of time.
notable
9 years ago
An imbrication of the natural and the artificial is now the rule, and their separation is an increasingly rare exception with the passage of time.
notable
9 years ago
constructivism
(en)
Hayek's term for the idea that all institutions in society were or should be "deliberately constructed by somebody"; "constructivists … habitually argue on the assumption of omniscience," rather than acknowledging, as Hayek does, the necessarily limited character of human knowledge in society
207
No doubt the most widespread theory of social classes at present is the constructivist one. Constructivism is a trend in contemporary social science according to which reality – social and/or material – is ‘constructed’ or ‘socially constructed’.
notable
9 years ago
No doubt the most widespread theory of social classes at present is the constructivist one. Constructivism is a trend in contemporary social science according to which reality – social and/or material – is ‘constructed’ or ‘socially constructed’.
notable
9 years ago
ballast
(en)
(noun) material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure; (verb) to steady or equip with or as if with ballast
212
Communities are not formed haphazardly, and if the development of a class culture or identity includes a degree of contingency, it is supplied with ballast by ‘objective’ socio-economic factors.
notable
9 years ago
Communities are not formed haphazardly, and if the development of a class culture or identity includes a degree of contingency, it is supplied with ballast by ‘objective’ socio-economic factors.
notable
9 years ago
nomenklatura
(en)
a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy running all spheres of those countries' activity
219
In a ‘bureaucratic socialist regime’ like the USSR, it is the intelligentsia that is liable to occupy this position. It shares certain advantages with members of the nomenklatura (the bureaucracy of the single party), but it is a class distinct from the latter.
notable
9 years ago
In a ‘bureaucratic socialist regime’ like the USSR, it is the intelligentsia that is liable to occupy this position. It shares certain advantages with members of the nomenklatura (the bureaucracy of the single party), but it is a class distinct from the latter.
notable
9 years ago