Reviews for Algebra

The average rating for Algebra based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-12-04 00:00:00 Blayne Haubrich This book provides a really smart reading of how many contemporary social problems are rooted in the shift from a culture of prohibition--where the Law was to sacrifice one's enjoyment for the good of society--to a culture of enjoyment--where the Law is to enjoy individually. One of the main problems McGowan identifies with this imperative is that it paradoxically cuts us off from enjoyment because 1) enjoyment is always transgressive, and when it becomes an imperative it becomes a duty, and 2) we become obsessed with the idea of a complete enjoyment that is always incomplete and threatened by the other. We become less socially and civically engaged because the public shrinks into a set of private individuals, each of whom we perceive has access to an enjoyment closed to us, and seeing the other reminds us of our own failure to enjoy (i.e., our failure to meet the expectations of the Law).

Review # 2 was written on 2008-07-02 00:00:00 Stefano Boych Repeats some of the points over and again, but I really enjoyed the book and was swayed by the premise. Our culture has shifted to a necessity of enjoyment. Also very easy to view the theory through films.