Ernesto Laclau facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ernesto Laclau
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Ernesto Laclau in 2012
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| Born | 6 October 1935 Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| Died | 13 April 2014 (aged 78) Seville, Spain
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| Era | 20th / 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Post-Marxism |
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Main interests
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Hegemony · Identity politics |
Ernesto Laclau (born October 6, 1935 – died April 13, 2014) was an important political thinker and philosopher from Argentina. He is often seen as a key person who helped create post-Marxist political ideas. He worked closely with his long-time partner, Chantal Mouffe.
Laclau studied history at the University of Buenos Aires. He earned his first degree in 1964. Later, he received his PhD from the University of Essex in 1977.
From 1986, he was a Professor of Political Theory at the University of Essex. There, he started a special program about Ideology and Discourse Analysis. He also led a center for studies in humanities and social sciences. This program helped develop a unique way of analyzing how people use language and ideas. This approach is now known as the 'Essex School of discourse analysis'.
Ernesto Laclau taught at many universities around the world. These included places in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. He also held positions at SUNY Buffalo and Northwestern University in the United States.
Laclau passed away from a heart attack in Seville, Spain, in 2014.
Contents
His Life Story
Ernesto Laclau studied history in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was part of a political group called the Socialist Party of the National Left until 1969. A British historian named Eric Hobsbawm helped him get into Oxford University.
Laclau had strong connections with Jorge Abelardo Ramos, who founded the Socialist Party. He also mentioned that his family supported a political movement called Yrigoyenismo. He said that Arturo Jauretche, a politician who opposed a dictatorship in the 1930s, was a close friend of his father.
In his later years, Laclau was linked to the Argentine Socialist Confederation. In Argentina, his ideas are often connected with Peronism, a major political movement.
His Main Ideas
Laclau's early work was influenced by Marxist ideas. He looked at topics like the role of the government and how capitalism works. He also studied how people can create strong social movements.
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy
Laclau's most famous book is Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. He wrote it with Chantal Mouffe in 1985. This book is called post-Marxist because it moves away from some traditional Marxist ideas.
- It does not believe that money and economics decide everything in society.
- It does not think that the struggle between social classes is the only important conflict.
Laclau and Mouffe said their work was "post-Marxist" but also "post-Marxist." This means they moved beyond old Marxist ideas but still cared about similar issues. A key idea in their book is that left-wing groups need to form alliances. They believed these groups should work with many different kinds of people to be successful. This would help them create a left-wing "hegemony" (a leading influence or control).
The book also suggested a "radical and plural democracy." In this type of democracy, people agree on freedom and equality. However, they can still debate what these important words truly mean.
Understanding "Discourse"
In their book, Laclau and Mouffe also talked about "discourse." They explained that things only get their meaning through language and social actions. This means that the meaning of something is not set in stone. Instead, it is built through how we talk about it and interact with it.
Laclau later explained that "discourse" is not just about speaking or writing. It includes any group of elements where relationships are key. He said that things don't exist on their own. They get their meaning from how they relate to other things.
Identity and Society
Laclau used this idea of discourse to think about identity. He argued that all political identities are created through discourse. This is true even if people feel their identity is "natural." For example, someone might think they are simply "born male." But for Laclau, "maleness" is a category built by society. It does not have a fixed meaning on its own.
What is Populism?
In his later works, Laclau returned to the topic of populism. In his book On Populist Reason, he explored how populism works in politics. He looked at how a leader can create a sense of "the people" as a unified group. He also stressed the importance of emotions in politics.
Laclau said that populism uses "empty signifiers." These are words or ideas that represent a general idea of fairness or justice. They help shape the political world. Unlike some who see populism as bad for democracy, Laclau believed it was a necessary part of it.
Laclau and Slavoj Žižek
Ernesto Laclau had a long discussion with another philosopher, Slavoj Žižek. This started around 1989 when Laclau wrote the introduction to Žižek's first book in English. Žižek's ideas helped Laclau accept more ideas from a field called Lacanian psychoanalysis.
In 2000, Laclau, Žižek, and Judith Butler published a book together. In it, they each responded to the others' ideas. Even though they had similar views and respected each other, they also had important differences.
Over time, their disagreements grew. In 2005, Laclau wrote that Žižek had unclear ideas about politics. He even said Žižek was "waiting for the martians." Their arguments became more heated in 2006. They debated political action, Marxism, and other complex topics. In 2014, Laclau said his relationship with Žižek had worsened. He felt Žižek had become too extreme in his political views.
See also
In Spanish: Ernesto Laclau para niños
- Antonio Gramsci
- Chantal Mouffe
- Essex School of discourse analysis
- Hegemony discursive theory Laclau-Mouffe
- List of deconstructionists
- Louis Althusser
- Peronism
- Post-Marxism
- Richard JF Day
- Slavoj Žižek
- Saul Newman
