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Revolutionary Routines

The Habits of Social Transformation

Carolyn Pedwell author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McGill-Queen's University Press

Published:1st May '21

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Revolutionary Routines cover

This book examines how everyday habits can drive significant social change, highlighting the importance of minor actions alongside major events. Revolutionary Routines offers a fresh perspective.

In Revolutionary Routines, the author explores the intricate relationship between everyday habits and significant socio-political changes. The narrative delves into how seemingly minor actions can contribute to substantial transformations in society. By examining the resurgence of fascism, white supremacy, and the influence of digital media, the book challenges traditional notions of what constitutes change. It argues that rather than relying solely on historical events or revolutions, we should pay attention to the subtle shifts in our daily routines that can lead to meaningful progress.

The author draws on various contemporary examples, including the political climates surrounding Trumpism and Brexit, to illustrate how small gestures can have a profound impact on collective consciousness. The book highlights the role of nudge theory and behavior change, emphasizing how our interactions on social media and responses to global crises can shape our understanding of social dynamics. Through these lenses, Revolutionary Routines reveals the potential for ordinary individuals to influence broader movements and create political solidarity.

Ultimately, this work provides a fresh perspective on the nature of social change, power, and progressive politics. By focusing on the logics of habit, it encourages readers to reconsider their daily practices and recognize the importance of cooperation and shared consciousness in fostering a more equitable society. Revolutionary Routines invites us to rethink our roles in the ongoing narrative of change and the power we hold in our everyday lives.

"There is very much to commend the book to a readership, but for me, the most important aspect is the way it adds to the literature that explores the 'minor politics' of the event. By recasting social change in a minor key, other actors, environments and practices come into focus. Pedwell's book demonstrates, with great acuity, the importance of the transformation of habitual relations to a project of social change. This minor politics is essential not simply in and of itself, but also because it runs through (perhaps even constitutes) the event of constituent power. In this way, Revolutionary Routines provides fresh resources for anyone who seeks to explore the question of constituent power, protest and social movement. It is well worth a read." Critical Legal Thinking


Revolutionary Routines is a quintessentially philosophical text, which offers possibilities for rethinking our understanding of the habitual nature of social oppression in its various guises. [Pedwell’s] exploration of how popular culture, media, government techniques and digital ecologies are reshaping the mind, bodies and environment in ways that affect the conditions of political possibility remains an important endeavour.” LSE Review of Books


Revolutionary Routines: The Habits of Social Transformation will be useful reading for scholars, practitioners and activists working on social change and transformation, particularly as they engage with the continuing negotiations and ambivalence of social change. To fully engage with the potential of Carolyn Pedwell’s book, however, it is crucial to actively consider the nature and influence of institutionalised and contextualised power, especially its ability to stall progressive politics and transformation.” The Sociological Review


“This is a valuable project, and Pedwell’s processual thinking is a fruitful ground for her inquiries. She reminds us that Dewey argued that successful revolutions require cultivating the needed ‘habits of thought.’” Theory & Event


Revolutionary Routines: The Habits of Social Transformation is ultimately and necessarily a call for speculative intervention, politics, and modes of praxis – an invitation to continue affecting, practising, and theorizing a world otherwise. As such, Pedwell’s book offers a substantial contribution to what the author identifies as the “emergent critical return to habit” and to the transdisciplinary field of affect studies.” University of Toronto Quarterly

ISBN: 9780228006220

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

344 pages