Ernesto Laclau (; 6 October 1935 – 13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. He is often described as an 'inventor' of

post-Marxist Post-Marxism is a perspective in Critical theory, critical social theory which radically reinterprets Marxism, countering its association with economism, historical determinism, Antihumanism, anti-humanism, and class reductionism, whilst remai ...

political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe. He studied history at the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, graduating with a licenciatura in 1964, and received a PhD from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

in 1977. From 1986 he served as Professor of Political Theory at the University of Essex, where he founded and directed for many years the graduate programme in

Ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

and

Discourse Analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative sy ...

, as well as the Centre for Theoretical Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Under his directorship, the Ideology and Discourse Analysis programme has provided a research framework for the development of a distinct type of discourse analysis that draws on post-structuralist theory (especially the work of Saussure, and Derrida), post-analytic thought ( Wittgenstein, and Richard Rorty) and psychoanalysis (primarily the work of Lacan) to provide innovative analysis of concrete political phenomena, such as identities, discourses and hegemonies. This theoretical and analytical orientation is known today as the ' Essex School of discourse analysis'. Over his career Laclau lectured extensively in many universities in North America, South America, Western Europe, Australia, and South Africa. He also held positions at SUNY Buffalo and

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, both in the US.

Biography

Laclau studied history at the University of Buenos Aires and was a member of the PSIN (Socialist Party of the National Left) until 1969, when the British historian

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...

supported his entrance to Oxford. He had close links with Jorge Abelardo Ramos, the founder of the PSIN, although he stated in 2005 that the latter had evolved in a direction he did not appreciate. In the same interview, he claimed that he came from a Yrigoyenista family, and that the Peronist politician Arturo Jauretche, a strong opponent of Justo's dictatorship during the Infamous Decade of the 1930s, was a close friend of his father. In his later years, he had close ties with the Argentine Socialist Confederation (Spanish: ''Confederación Socialista Argentina''), and in Argentina he is associated with Peronism. Laclau died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in Seville in 2014.

Work

Laclau's early work was influenced by Althusserian Marxism and focused on issues debated within Neo-Marxist circles in the 1970s, such as the role of the state, the dynamics of capitalism, the importance of building popular movements, and the possibility of revolution. Laclau's most significant book is '' Hegemony and Socialist Strategy'', which he co-authored with Chantal Mouffe in 1985. The position outlined in this book is usually described as post-Marxist because it rejects (a)

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

economic determinism Economic determinism is a socioeconomic theory that economic relationships (such as being an owner or capitalist or being a worker or proletarian) are the foundation upon which all other societal and political arrangements in society are based. T ...

and (b) the view that class struggle is the most important antagonism in society. In their 2001 introduction to the second edition Laclau and Mouffe commented on this label, stating that whilst post''-Marxist' they were also 'post-''Marxist''': their work, though a departure from traditional Western Marxism, retained similar concerns and ideas. A key innovation in ''Hegemony and Socialist Strategy'' was Laclau and Mouffe's argument that left-wing movements need to build alliances with a wide variety of different groups if they are to be successful and establish a left-wing 'hegemony'. In the final chapter of the book, the project of "radical and plural democracy" was advocated: a democracy in which subjects accept the importance of the values of liberty and equality, but fight over what the terms mean. In ''Hegemony and Socialist Strategy'' Laclau and Mouffe also offered a constructivist account of 'discourse'. By drawing on the work of the later Wittgenstein, they argued that social entities only become meaningful through both linguistic and non-linguistic discursive articulation. As such, the meaning of something is never pre-given but is, instead, constructed through social practices. In a later summary of his view, Laclau claims there is support for this broad sense of discourse in Saussure. "By discourse... I do not mean something that is essentially restricted to the areas of speech and writing, but any complex of elements in which relations play the constitutive role. This means that elements do not pre-exist the relational complex but are constituted through it. Thus 'relation' and 'objectivity' are synonymous. Saussure asserted that there are no positive terms in language, only differences — something is what it is only through its differential relations to something else." Laclau subsequently used this account of discourse to re-consider the nature of identity, arguing that all political identities are discursive - even if they are experienced by individuals as 'natural' (even to the point where one's identity is not recognised as an identity). For example, though an individual may think that they are just 'born male' this is, for Laclau not the case: 'maleness' is a socially constructed category that has no innate meaning. In his more recent works, Laclau returned to a topic that was prevalent in his earliest writings: populism. In ''On Populist Reason'', Laclau considered the nature of populism in political discourse, the creation of a popular hegemonic bloc such as "the people", and the importance of affect in politics. Building on his earlier work, Laclau argued that the basis of populism lies in the creation of " empty signifiers": words and ideas that express a universal idea of justice, and symbolically structure the political environment. Against those who see populism as a threat to democracy, Laclau argued that it is an essential component of it.

Relationship with Slavoj Žižek

Laclau is known for his long standing dialogue with Lacanian "arch-Marxist" Slavoj Žižek. This dates back to at least 1989, when Laclau wrote the introduction to Žižek's first book in English (''The Sublime Object of Ideology''). Žižek is widely recognized as responsible for Laclau's increased acceptance of Lacanian ideas and his essay "Beyond Discourse Analysis", which was published in Laclau's ''New Reflections on the Revolutions of Our Time'' (1990), provided a psychoanalytic critique of Laclau's work. In 2000, Laclau, Žižek and Judith Butler published the trialogue ''

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality ''Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left'' is a collaborative book by the Political philosophy, political theorists Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau, and Slavoj Žižek published in 2000. Background, structure and ...

'', in which each responded to the others' works in a three-essay cycle. Although Žižek and Laclau noted their similarities and mutual respect, significant political and theoretical differences emerged between all three interlocutors. Following several acrimonious publications in the early 2000s, Laclau wrote in ''On Populist Reason'' (2005) that Žižek had an impractical and confused approach to politics, describing him as "waiting for the Martians". Their disagreement escalated in the pages of ''Critical Inquiry'' in 2006, when in a spate of essays the two argued in an increasingly hostile manner about political action, Marxism and class struggle, Hegel, populism, and the Lacanian Real. More recently in a 2014 interview with David Howarth, Laclau stated that his relationship with Žižek had deteriorated due to the latter adopting a "frantic ultra-Leftist stance, wrapped in a Leninism of kindergarten".

Bibliography

* ''Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory'' (NLB, 1977) * * ''New Reflections on the Revolution of our Time'' (Verso, 1990) * ''The Making of Political Identities'' (editor) (Verso, 1994) * ''Emancipation(s)'' (Verso, 1996) * ''

'' (with

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...

and Slavoj Žižek) (Verso, 2000) * * ''The Rhetorical Foundations of Society'' (Verso, 2014)

References

External links

Centre for Theoretical Studies, University of Essex
Includes Laclau papers on populism and the philosophical roots of discourse theory
Ideology and Discourse Analysis network

Hearts, Minds and Radical Democracy
Interview with Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe

God Only Knows
1991 article in Marxism Today
Socialist strategy: where next?
1981 article in Marxism Today by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe {{DEFAULTSORT:Laclau, Ernesto Argentine people of French descent 1935 births 2014 deaths People from Buenos Aires Discourse analysts Marxist theorists Argentine political philosophers Populism scholars Academics of the University of Essex 20th-century Argentine philosophers 21st-century Argentine philosophers Peronists University at Buffalo faculty University of Buenos Aires alumni