%0 Journal Article
%T Mess is more: Radical democracy and self
%A Norbert Ebert
%J Thesis Eleven
%@ 1461-7455
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0725513619838372
%X The following discussion highlights the sociological relevance of Maria M¨¢rkus¡¯s work for the Budapest School¡¯s concept of ¡®radical democracy¡¯. A brief historical sketch exhibits how the concept has emerged. It is in particular the ¡®messy¡¯ social conditions for equal and free forms of self-realisation in civil society that underpin radical democracy which are central in Maria M¨¢rkus¡¯s critique of the neoliberal state, identity formation and a gendered achievement principle. Her approach, I argue, can be advanced as a prism for the critical analysis of contemporary issues. To do so, I contend that late-modern societies are increasingly defined by a paradox with a pluralisation of identity claims in civil society on the one hand, and tendencies to homogenise identities on the other by concurring economic and political forces. A democratisation of everyday life, and with it diverse and plural forms of self-realisation, appears to be under homogenising pressures from governments and markets alike. This will be briefly demonstrated using Maria M¨¢rkus¡¯s work, which also points toward possible departure points to advance a critical sociology of radical democracy
%K Budapest school
%K double movement
%K Maria M¨¢rkus
%K radical democracy
%K self-realisation
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0725513619838372