Book Review: Tyranny of Choice

Boone Shear

This is a short review of Renata Salecl's ‘The Tyranny of Choice.’ Salecl shows us that our actions are not driven entirely by the rational mind but are influenced by unconscious desires that are themselves produced by a relationship to the symbolic order. One implication is that we can't simply will ourselves a new world. Stepping out of the political and ethical morass of fighting over which form of capitalism is better or more humane might require more than rational discussions about the vagaries of capitalism, speaking truth to power, or making rational demands on the state.

Suggested citation

Shear, B. 2012. "Review of Renata Salecl's 'The Tyranny of Choice'." Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. July.