Against progress

Defining the concept of “progress” is claiming the future.

Can the world, which seems never to have been so bad, improve? And what would a better world be?

How can we clear a path and move forward, against prophets of doom and paralyzing relativisms, and confront the unprecedented ecological, social, and political crises we live through today?

Against Progress brings together 13 provocative essays in which Slavoj Žižek challenges the suffocating narrative that neoliberals, Trumpists, toxic self-help industries, and accelerationists have imposed on the notion of progress.

Dissecting what is lost when we allow the main antagonists of the future to define it for us, the Slovenian philosopher exposes what the different visions of progress exclude or sacrifice, as well as the dynamics of desire, denial, and rejection at play in Hollywood blockbusters, the Buddhist economy, decolonization movements… 

From gentrification to the theory of relativity, passing through Lacan, Lenin, and Mary Poppins, Žižek questions the past, present, and future to answer the hardest question of all: how do we free ourselves from this hypocritical and guilt-ridden dream in which we are wrapped, and how do we begin to build a better world?