Renata Salecl (born 1962) is a
Slovene philosopher,
sociologist and
legal theorist. She is a senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law at the
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students.
History Beginnings
Although certain ...
, and holds a professorship at
Birkbeck College
, mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck.
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £4.3 m (2014)
, budget = £109 ...
, University of London.
[Biographical details](_blank)
School of Law, Birkbeck College
, mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck.
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £4.3 m (2014)
, budget = £109 ...
, 13 February 2013, Accessed: 2013-05-24. (Archived by the Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20130926143218/http://www.bbk.ac.uk/law/our-staff/ft-academic/renata-salecl/biographical-details ) She has been a visiting professor at
London School of Economics, lecturing on the topic of emotions and law. Every year she lectures at
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo graduated its first class in 1979. An LL.M. ...
(
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* ...
), on Psychoanalysis and Law,
[Visiting international faculty](_blank)
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo graduated its first class in 1979. An LL.M. ...
, Accessed: 2013-05-24. (Archived by the Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20141129072021/http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/visiting-international-faculty-and-scholars ) and she has also been teaching courses on neuroscience and law.
[Course Number 7338: ''Neuroscience and law'', 15 January to 20 May 2013](_blank)
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo graduated its first class in 1979. An LL.M. ...
, Accessed: 2013-05-24. (Archived by the Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20140820200944/http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/courses/neuroscience-and-law ) Since 2012 she has been visiting professor at the Department of Social Science, Heath and Medicine at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...
. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages. In 2017, she was elected as a member of the Slovene Academy of Science.
Life and civic activism
In the 1980s Salecl became associated with the intellectual circle known as the
Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis, which combined the study of
Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...
ian
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
with the philosophic legacy of
German idealism
German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionar ...
and
critical theory. In the late 1980s she became active in the
left liberal
Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
opposition to the ruling Slovenian
Communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
.
[About the Debate Club 89 (''Debatni klub 89'')](_blank)
quoting from Museum of Slovenian History ("Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije"), 2008, Ljubljana. In the first democratic elections in Slovenia in April 1990 she unsuccessfully ran for the Slovenian Parliament on the list of the
Alliance of Socialist Youth of Slovenia - Liberal Party. After 1990 she left party politics but remained active in public life, especially as a commentator.
She was married to the Slovenian
Marxist–
Lacanian
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...
philosopher
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New ...
.
They have one son.
Work
She studied philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, graduating with a thesis on
Michel Foucault
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
's theory of power under the supervision of the Marxist philosopher
Božidar Debenjak. From 1986, she started working as a researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, In 1991, she obtained a PhD at the Department of Sociology at the University of Ljubljana under the supervision of
Drago Braco Rotar. Her work focuses on bringing together law, criminology and psychoanalysis. She has worked on the theories of punishment, and on the analysis of the relation between
late capitalist insistence on choice and the increased feelings of anxiety and guilt in post-modern subjects. The book also analyses how matters of choice apply to law and criminology.
Salecl is associated with the
critical legal studies
Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...
movement. She was Centennial Professor at the department of law at the
London School of Economics (LSE) and is now visiting professor at the LSE's
BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society, and holds a full professorship at the School of Law at
Birkbeck College
, mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck.
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £4.3 m (2014)
, budget = £109 ...
,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
.
She often teaches as Visiting Professor at
Cardozo School of Law in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* ...
. She has been fellow at the
Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin
The Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin (german: Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin) is an interdisciplinary institute founded in 1981 in Grunewald, Berlin, Germany, dedicated to research projects in the natural and social sciences. It is modeled ...
(1997/8), visiting professor at the
Humboldt University
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
in
Berlin, visiting humanities professor at
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, and visiting professor at
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jame ...
.
She also writes columns in various European newspapers, including ''
Delo
''Delo'' (russian: Дело) is a business oriented online media in Ukraine, belonging to ekonomika+ media holding.
''Delo'' was the first daily in Ukraine, publishing its real print circulation (13.000 - 15.000) and trying to introduce Western ...
'' (Ljubljana) and ''
La Vanguardia
' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and ...
'' (
Barcelona).
Awards
* In 2010, she was awarded the title of "Slovenian woman scientist of the year". In December of the same year, she was a candidate for a "Slovenian person of the year" by the daily newspaper ''
Delo
''Delo'' (russian: Дело) is a business oriented online media in Ukraine, belonging to ekonomika+ media holding.
''Delo'' was the first daily in Ukraine, publishing its real print circulation (13.000 - 15.000) and trying to introduce Western ...
''.
* In 2011, she was named the most successful woman in Slovenia and got the title ONA 365 by the women magazine ''Ona'' (English: ''SHE'' magazine).
Selected bibliography
In English
*
*
*
*
*
*
In Slovene
*
*
In Spanish
Chapters in books
* Salecl, Renata (2001), "Cut in the body: from clitoridectomy to body art", in Ahmed, Sara, Stacey, Jackie, ''Thinking Through the Skin'', London: Routledge, pp.21-35, .
*
See also
*
Overchoice
Overchoice or choice overload is a cognitive impairment in which people have a difficult time making a decision when faced with many options. The term was first introduced by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book, ''Future Shock''.Thomas W. Simon, ''Dem ...
*
Tyranny of small decisions
The tyranny of small decisions is a phenomenon explored in an essay of the same name, published in 1966 by the American economist Alfred E. Kahn. The article describes a situation in which a number of decisions, individually small and insignifica ...
*''
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less''
References
External links
Interview with photo (2010)
RSA Animate Video on Choice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salecl, Renata
University of Ljubljana faculty
People from Slovenj Gradec
Slovenian women philosophers
Slovenian sociologists
University of Ljubljana alumni
1962 births
Living people
Academics of the London School of Economics
Slavoj Žižek
Slovenian women sociologists
20th-century Slovenian philosophers
21st-century Slovenian philosophers