Political Thought of Jacques Rancière

Todd May is Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of the Humanities at Clemson University. Among his most recent publications are Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction (2005) and The Philosophy of Foucault (2006). He has also been active in various political movements of equality, including anti-racism work and the struggle for Palestinian rights.

• Acknowledgments; 1. Passive Equality; 2. Active Equality: Democratic Politics; 3. The Historical Roots of Democratic Politics: Anarchism; 4. The Normative Framework of Democratic Politics; 5. Active Equality in Contemporary Politics; Bibliography; Index.

Todd May's book is a powerful argument in favor of an active, egalitarian politics that takes its inspiration from the tradition of "communist anarchy" and the work of Jacques Rancière. It navigates adeptly and intelligently between some of the most significant developments in 'analytic political philosophy' since the 1970s (Rawls, Nozick, Sen, etc.) and the avant-garde of French critical theory since the 1960s (Foucault, Deleuze, Levinas, Rancière, etc.). Unlike other such attempts, and in spite of his own allegiances to the latter tradition, May takes the time to carefully analyze and explicate the work he criticizes, which he usefully groups together under the heading of 'passive equality.' Moreover, May's clear writing style and analytic acumen allow him to draw on many of the strong points in contemporary French thought without slipping into a hermetic jargon of authenticity.