Slavoj Žižek

Slavoj Žižek (Slovene pronunciation: [ˈslavoj ˈʒiʒɛk]; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian psychoanalytic philosopher, cultural critic, and a Marxist scholar. He is a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. His work is located at the intersection of a range of disciplines, including continental philosophy, political theory, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, film criticism, and theology.

Born in Slovenia and educated in Ljubljana and later Paris, Žižek first achieved international recognition after the 1989 publication of his first English text, The Sublime Object of Ideology, in which he departed from traditional Marxist theory to develop a materialist conception of ideology that drew heavily on Lacanian psychoanalysis and Hegelian idealism. His early theoretical work became increasingly eclectic and political in the 1990s, dealing frequently in the critical analysis of disparate forms of popular culture and making him a popular figure of the academic Left. A critic of capitalism and neoliberalism, Žižek identifies as a political radical, and his work has been characterized as challenging orthodoxies of both the political right and the left-liberal academy. His prodigious body of writing spans dense theoretical polemics, academic tomes, and accessible introductory books; in addition, he has taken part in various film projects, including two documentary collaborations with director Sophie Fiennes, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006) and The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012).