Jason Del Gandio & AK Thompson 
Spontaneous Combustion 
The Eros Effect and Global Revolution

From the events of May 1968 to the Arab Spring and Occupy, we have seen social movements develop spontaneously around the globe propelling thousands and, at times, millions of people into the streets to demand an end to oppression.



’In order to make sense of such events, the authors draw on George Katsiaficas’s conception of the ’eros effect, ’ which picks up and takes off from concepts developed by Herbert Marcuse. This effect describes moments in which the instinctual human need for justice and freedom undergoes a massive spontaneous awakening. Drawing on Marcuse, the concept foregrounds the instinctual foundation of the desire for freedom, in which a biologically-based pleasure drive—eros—is given free play.’ — from the Foreword by Peter Marcuse



However, even as the eros effect provides a valuable framework for understanding spontaneous global uprisings, Katsiaficas has acknowledged that the concept has remained underdeveloped.
Spontaneous Combustion provides an introduction to the eros effect along with a series of elaborations, applications, and critical rejoinders concerning its implications. A truly interdisciplinary venture, the book features contributions from cutting-edge scholars and activists on the frontlines of today’s struggles.

Innehållsförteckning

Foreword


Peter Marcuse



Introduction


Jason Del Gandio and
AK Thompson




Section I: The Eros Effect



1. Remembering May ’68: An Interview with George Katsiaficas


AK Thompson



2. Eros and Revolution


George Katsiaficas



3. From Marcuse’s “Political Eros” to the Eros Effect: A Current Statement


George Katsiaficas




Section II: Extensions and Elaborations



4. Eros in a One-Dimensional Society: Katsiaficas, Marcuse, and Me


Arnold L. Farr



5. Rethinking the Eros Effect: Sentience, Reality, and Emanation


Jason Del Gandio



6. Revolt
as Reason, Reason
as Revolt: On the Praxis of Philosophy from Below


Richard Gilman-Opalsky



7. The Eros Effect and the Embodied Mind


Jack Hipp




Section III: Case Studies



8. Kindling for the Spark: Eros and Emergent Consciousness in Occupy Oakland


Emily Brissette and
Mike King



9. Eros Effect as Emergency Politics: Empathy, Agency, and Network in South Korea’s Sewol Ferry Disaster


Gooyong Kim and
Anat Schwartz



10. Climatology of the Eros Effect: Notes from the Japanese Archipelago


Sabu Kohso




Section IV: Rejoinders



11. Feminism and the Eros Effect


Nina Power



12. Waves of Protest, the Eros Effect, and the Social Relations of Diffusion


Lesley Wood



13. Eros Effect or Biological Hatred?


AK Thompson



Afterword


Douglas Kellner



Contributors

Index

Om författaren

Jason Del Gandio is Assistant Professor at Temple University who teaches rhetoric and public advocacy. He is the author of
Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists.
AK Thompson teaches social theory and is the author of
Black Bloc, White Riot: Anti-Globalization and the Genealogy of Dissent.