The Politics of the Wretched: Race, Reason, and Ressentiment (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781350422889)

The Politics of the Wretched argues for ressentiment's generative negativity, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Inspired by Kant and Nietzsche's philosophy, Zalloua identifies two modes of deploying ressentiment - private and public use - by substituting ressentiment for reason. This reinterpretation argues for a public use of ressentiment, for the wretched to universalize their grievances, to see their antagonism as cutting across societies, and to turn personal trauma into a common cause.

A public use of ressentiment rails against the ideology of identity and victimhood and insists on ressentiment's generative negativity, its own rationality, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Reframing ressentiment as a tool to oppose the evils of capitalism, anti-Blackness, and neocolonialism, it both alarms the liberal gatekeepers of the status quo and promises to energize the anti-racist Left in its ongoing struggles for universal justice and emancipation.

Author: Zahi Zalloua
ISBN-10: 1350422886
ISBN-13: 9781350422889
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 03/19/2026
Pages: 280
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.59d