The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory, 2nd Edition

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RANCIÈRE, JACQUES (1940–) Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII (St Denis). A student of the French Marxist Louis Althusser, Rancière first came to prominence with a contribution on Karl Marx's critique of political economy in the French publication of the Althusser-led seminars Lire le Capital (1965). Like Althusser, Rancière drew a sharp distinction between the ideological experience of individuals and the scientific authority of theory, especially in relation to the latter's ability to comprehend the complete workings of commodity production. This chapter did not appear in the English version of the text, Reading Capital (1968), and in the same year Rancière broke with Althusser. The reasons for this break ...