Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Ernesto Laclau (Spanish: [laklau]; 6 October 1935 ista Argentina),[6] and in Argentina he is associated with
13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist. He Peronism.[7]
is often described as post-Marxist. He is well known
for his collaborations with his long-term partner, Chantal
Moue. 2 Work
He studied History in Buenos Aires, graduating from the
Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires in 1964, and re- Laclaus early work was inuenced by Althusserian Marx-
ceived a PhD from the University of Essex in 1977. ism and focused on issues debated within Neo-Marxist
Since 1986 he served as Professor of Political Theory at circles in the 1970s, such as the role of the state, the dy-
the University of Essex, where he founded and directed namics of capitalism, the importance of building popular
for many years the graduate programme in Ideology and movements, and the possibility of revolution. Laclaus
Discourse Analysis, as well as the Centre for Theoretical most signicant book is Hegemony and Socialist Strategy,
Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Un- which he co-authored with Chantal Moue in 1985. The
der his directorship, the Ideology and Discourse Anal- position outlined in this book is usually described as post-
ysis programme has provided a research framework for Marxist because it rejects (a) Marxist economic deter-
the development of a distinct type of discourse analy- minism and (b) the view that class struggle is the most
sis that draws on post-structuralist theory (especially the important antagonism in society. In their 2001 introduc-
work of Saussure, and Derrida), post analytic thought tion to the second edition Laclau and Moue commented
(Wittgenstein, and Richard Rorty) and psychoanalysis on this label, stating that whilst 'post-Marxist' they were
[8]
(primarily the work of Lacan) to provide innovative anal- also 'post-Marxist': their work, though a departure from
ysis of concrete political phenomena, such as identities, traditional Western Marxism, retained similar concerns
discourses and hegemonies. This theoretical and analyt- and ideas. A key innovation in Hegemony and Socialist
ical orientation is known today as the 'Essex School of Strategy was Laclau and Moues argument that left-wing
discourse analysis'.[1] movements need to build alliances with a wide variety of
dierent groups if they are to be successful and establish a
Over his career Laclau lectured extensively in many uni-
left-wing 'hegemony'. In the nal chapter of the book, the
versities in North America, South America, Western Eu-
project of radical and plural democracy was advocated:
rope, Australia, and South Africa. Most recently he has
a democracy in which subjects accept the importance of
held positions at SUNY Bualo and Northwestern Uni-
the values of liberty and equality, but ght over what the
versity, both in the US.
terms mean.
Laclau died of a heart attack in Seville in 2014.[2][3]
In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy Laclau and Moue
also oered a unique account of 'discourse'. By draw-
ing on the work of the later Wittgenstein, they argued
1 Biography that social entities only become meaningful through dis-
cursive articulation. As such, the meaning of something
Laclau studied History at the University of Buenos is never pre-given but is, instead, constructed through so-
Aires[4] and was a member of the PSIN (Socialist Party of cial practices. Laclau subsequently used this account of
the National Left) until 1969, when the British historian discourse to re-consider the nature of identity, arguing
Eric Hobsbawm supported his entrance to Oxford.[5] He that all political identities are discursive - even if they are
had close links with Jorge Abelardo Ramos, the founder experienced by individuals as 'natural' (even to the point
of the PSIN, although he stated in 2005 that the lat- where ones identity is not recognised as an identity). For
ter had evolved in a direction he did not appreciate.[5] example, though an individual may think that they are just
In the same interview, he claimed that he came from 'born male' this is, for Laclau, not the case: 'maleness is a
a Yrigoyenista family, and that the peronist politician socially constructed category that has no innate meaning.
Arturo Jauretche, a strong opponent of Justo's dictator- In his more recent works Laclau returned to a topic that
ship during the Infamous Decade of the 1930s, was a was prevalent in his earliest writings: populism. In On
close friend of his father.[5] Populist Reason, Laclau considered the nature of pop-
In his later years, he had close ties with the Argentine ulism in political discourse, the creation of a popular
Socialist Confederation (Spanish: Confederacin Social- hegemonic bloc such as the people, and the importance
1
2 5 REFERENCES
6 Further reading
Anna Marie Smith, Laclau and Moue: The Radical
Democratic Imaginary, London: Routledge, 1998.
David Howarth, Discourse, Milton Keynes: Open
University Press, 2000.
7 External links
Centre for Theoretical Studies, University of Essex
Includes Laclau papers on populism and the philo-
sophical roots of discourse theory
Ideology and Discourse Analysis network
Curriculum Vitae
God Only Knows 1991 article in Marxism Today
8.2 Images
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?