Abstract
This chapter explores the idea that social transformation is actually a deeply healing process. Smith begins by building on past chapters, laying out a theory of the interactive nature of suffering. Drawing once again on a cross-disciplinary framework, Smith shows that the transition to post-capitalism is deeply entwined in a process of social and individual healing, transformation and reconciliation. He argues that a critically retrieved notion of “social progress” requires that we lend a normative ear to suffering, and understand the importance of creating social conditions which foster and support a free-flourishing, mediating subject. In introducing an alternative philosophy of systemic change, Smith offers both immediate policy proposals, ranging from mental health to alternative economics, and a long-term vision of a more emancipatory post-capitalist future. This includes discussion on consumerism, mass surveillance and other contemporary developments in relation to the fragile self and possible roads to sanity.
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Smith, R.C. (2017). Emancipatory Politics and Social Transformation. In: Society and Social Pathology. Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50325-7_5
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