Against Progress

Against Progress invites readers to define 'progress' and stake a claim on the future. Seminal thinker Slavoj Žižek adopts an essayist approach to explore competing visions that shape human possibilities, asking whether things, which have never seemed worse, can indeed get better. What would constitute a better world? And how can we advance amidst the constant challenges posed by doomers, degrowthers, and disorienting relativisms in the face of unprecedented ecological, social, and political crises?

Through thirteen iconoclastic essays, Slavoj Žižek disrupts the stranglehold that neoliberalists, Trumpian populists, toxic self-improvement industries, and accelerationists have on the concept of progress. By analysing what is lost when those opposed to the future define it, Žižek exposes the exclusions and sacrifices inherent in different visions of progress. He delves into the dynamics of desire, denial, and disavowal at play in Hollywood blockbusters, Buddhist economics, decolonization movements, and other significant frameworks of vision.

In a whirlwind tour that encompasses topics from gentrification to the theory of relativity, from Lacan to Lenin, from Putin to Mary Poppins, and from Marine Le Pen to the end of the world, these essays persistently challenge imagined futures with probing questions.

Moreover, Žižek confronts the most difficult question of all: How do we liberate ourselves from the hypocritical, guilt-ridden dreaming that entangles us, and begin to construct a better world?