https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/issue/feed Studies in Social and Political Thought 2019-09-17T15:03:10+00:00 Dr J G Finlayson J.G.Finlayson@sussex.ac.uk Open Journal Systems <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Studies in Social and Political Thought is a student run journal based in the University of Sussex’s Centre for Social and Political Thought. The journal has a dual purpose: first, fostering developments in the inter-disciplinary areas of social and political thought and, second, serving as a publishing platform for junior academics.</span></p> <p class="p1">Past issues have featured articles by well-respected figures such as William Outhwaite and Stefan Muller-Doohm as well as the first publications of a number of promising junior academics. Although student run, we try to ensure highest standards and best quality publishing. We have attracted a prestigious panel of leading scholars in social and political thought for our international advisory board, including: Martin Jay of UC Berkeley, Robert Pippin of the University of Chicago, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak of Columbia University, Seyla Banhabib of Yale University, William Outhwaite of the University of Newcastle, Homi Bhabha of Harvard University, Adriana Cavarero of the University of Verona, Alessandro Ferrara of the University of Rome, Axel Honneth of the University of Frankfurt and Fredric Jameson of Duke University.</p> https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/105 Kelly, Review of Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism & New Technologies of Power By Byung-Chul Han 2019-09-17T15:02:20+00:00 James F. Kelly sspt@sussex.ac.uk <p>-</p> 2019-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/106 Harris, Review of New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future by James Bridle 2019-09-17T15:01:55+00:00 Harris Neal n.harris@sussex.ac.uk <p>-</p> 2019-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/107 Meade, Review of Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing By John Boughton 2019-09-17T15:01:30+00:00 Freddie Meade F.Meade@uea.ac.uk <p>-</p> 2019-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/108 Edmunds, Review of Adam Smith and Rousseau: ethics, politics, economics Edited by Maria Paganelli, Dennis C. Rasmussen, and Craig Smith 2019-09-17T15:01:05+00:00 Jack Edmunds jack.edmunds@kcl.ac.uk <p>-</p> 2019-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/132 Editors' Introduction 2019-09-17T14:59:51+00:00 Valerie Whittington vaw22@sussex.ac.uk James Michael Stockman js628@sussex.ac.uk <p>-</p> 2019-09-13T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the authors https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/116 Critical Social Ontology as a Foundation for Ethics: Marx, Lukács and Critical Judgment 2019-09-17T15:00:16+00:00 Michael J. Thompson thompsonmi@wpunj.edu <p>In this paper, I outline a theory of critical social ontology derived from the fundamental ideas of Marx and the later work on the ontology of social being by Georg Lukács. I argue that we can discern categories of social being that can aid in the project of diagnostic social critique, but also that these categories can be used to formulate an ethical theory that we can ground in this critical social ontology. I therefore defend the thesis, against postmetaphysical thinkers that have argued to the contrary, that a satisfactory and critical theory of ethics can and indeed must be rooted in a theory of ontology. I end with some reflections on how critical social ontology can help combat the problem of reification and help us think through issues of ethical or normative concern.</p> 2019-09-02T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/101 On the Failure of Oracles: Reflections on a Digital Life 2019-09-17T15:03:10+00:00 David. M. Berry d.m.berry@sussex.ac.uk <p>[No abstract] Opening paragraph:</p> <p>Across the globe, as the sun rises, people begin each day with a routine that marks 21stcentury&nbsp;life as very different from any other century. Before they get dressed, before they&nbsp;are even fully awake, most people start their morning by gazing at rectangular oleophobic&nbsp;panes of illuminated glass. Every day, a new world is painted in millions of individual&nbsp;organic light-emitting diodes which are embedded in a substrate under a layer of glass&nbsp;that is harder and thinner than any previously created. The screen is brighter than any&nbsp;reading surface we have ever known. The first thing we do each morning is to point this&nbsp;blaze of dazzling light straight into our eyes which carries the retina-quality notifications&nbsp;of the digital straight into our foggy brains. Before we are even fully conscious, the digital&nbsp;has disclosed a world to us, a stream of information and data, rivers of news, rivulets of&nbsp;reminders and lists.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> 2019-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/115 Happy Birthday Jürgen Habermas 2019-09-17T15:00:41+00:00 James Gordon Finlayson j.g.finlayson@sussex.ac.uk <p>[No abstract] First paragraph: Habermas turned ninety on June 18th 2019. Over the last six decades he’s been Germany’s foremost social theorist, philosopher, public intellectual, and journalist. His political writings currently stretch to twelve volumes. Cue a host of different public events across Germany celebrating his life and work. Cue also the usual paeans and panegyrics, and, as anyone who has followed the on-line discussion will know, some remarkably harsh criticism.</p> 2019-09-02T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author https://journals.sussex.ac.uk/index.php/sspt/article/view/104 The Production of Space Through Land Reclamation 2019-09-17T15:02:45+00:00 Niclas Kern sspt@sussex.ac.uk <p>This dissertation argues that land reclamation has become geopolitical.&nbsp;Land reclamation has added a new dimension to international&nbsp;relations and this dimension cannot be ignored, for it touches&nbsp;upon our fundamental understanding of state territory and spatial&nbsp;practice. Drawing on Stuart Elden and Henri Lefebvre, territory is&nbsp;understood as a set of political technologies that produce different&nbsp;dimensions of our modern conception of territorial space. Land&nbsp;reclamation operates as such a territorial technology and alters our&nbsp;understanding of maritime space in contemporary geopolitics and&nbsp;international law. Two case studies will explicate this development.&nbsp;The first study will investigate coastal reclamation in Singapore and&nbsp;its effects for the city-state’s international relations. The second study&nbsp;will analyse Chinese reclamation works in the disputed region of the&nbsp;South China Sea. Both investigations will approach these activities&nbsp;with a focus on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the&nbsp;Sea as the international juridical space of territory. In conclusion,&nbsp;this dissertation claims that the material and conceptual production&nbsp;of space triggered by advancements in land reclamation technology&nbsp;are reshaping territorial state practice and the corresponding legal&nbsp;framework of maritime space.</p> 2019-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2019 the author