Book Project

The Unhappy Poor: A Political Theory of Resentment rethinks resentment as a constitutive feature of political life. In an era defined by polarization, resentment has become one of social science’s favorite diagnostic tools, routinely invoked to explain the resurgence of regressive forms of politics, yet almost always as a pathology. Drawing on a wide range of thinkers from Aristotle to Frantz Fanon, this book unearths a hidden history of resentment as a political emotion. By bridging the history of political thought and affect theory, it shifts attention to the role ugly feelings play in turning ordinary people into political actors. The Unhappy Poor argues that politics happens when we feel that something is wrong. As uncomfortable as it might be, a feeling that names, blames, and refuses to give up its enemy may well mark the starting point of a radically different sort of politics.