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'Taking Control', SOAS, University of London, 12 March 2011 - **Registration now open**
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Conference Date: | 2011-03-12 (Archive) |
| Date Submitted: |
2011-01-13 |
| Announcement ID: |
182058 |
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'Taking Control' is an event dealing with the meaning of control in times of contemporary capitalism.
What does it mean today – under globalised late capitalism – to take or be in control of institutions, whether political, economic, or academic? We are concerned with theorising how to take control, and on what to do when we take it. We want to focus not on the dangers of control – since the corrupting effects of power have been amply theorized – but rather on what it means to take responsibility and effect change, and what this change could be.
That is, how can a vision for society be enacted in practical terms? What is the role of democratic participation in this process of mastering social change? And how do we remain accountable as we take control. Does taking control mean working against, within or beside the existing institutional structure?
This question remains under-theorised in contemporary critical political theory – which often remains limited to the critique of the status quo. Without the impulse to take responsibility and take control, this critique becomes meaningless – it results in a de facto acceptance.
The idea of communism remains important and a project to be fought for. However in the strategic question we are at an impasse, how to take control and implement a new communism? The vanguard model seems discredited, but the model of the multitude seems non-committal, a mere waiting for things to gradually come together, resulting in a de facto withdrawal from the social. Even more than this impasse, in times of late capitalism the very meaning of what being in control entails is no longer clear. We want to move from thinking about the idea of communism to implementing it.
This event is free, bur registration is essential. To register please email takingcontrol2011@gmail.com
For more information and programme updates please visit http://takingcontrol2011.wordpress.com
This event is organised by ES: Philosophy Research Collective with support from the Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS and the Department of Politics, Goldsmiths
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