Universality, Black Lives Matter, and the George Floyd Uprising

ABSTRACT

This article offers a theoretically informed case study of the George Floyd Uprising that emerged in May 2020. In addition to analyzing details of the uprising, it illustrates the ways in which particular uprisings can register at the level of the universal. I make this point through a critical engagement with theories of universality offered by Slavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou, and Todd McGowan, whose work helps us to theorize universality in its concrete and singular manifestation. Along the way, I show how adjacent work in the Black radical tradition, social movement studies, and the critical social sciences at large can also enter a constructive dialogue with these approaches to universality. Using theory and data, the case study illustrates how this insurgent act embodied the striving towards universal human dignity and liberation. It is long overdue for the humanistic social sciences to revisit and reengage the concept of universality. By doing so, we may generate better social theory, and better understand major movements for social change in the twenty-first century.

KEYWORDS:

• Universality
• George Floyd Uprising
• Black Lives Matter
• critical theory
• social movements
• Slavoj Žižek
• Alain Badiou
• Todd McGowan

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the following colleagues for their insights on earlier drafts of this manuscript: Arman Azedi, Semassa Boko, Megan Brooker, Katelyn Malae, John McCollum, and Steven Schmidt. The author is also thankful for the insightful and encouraging feedback received during the peer review process, which helped to make this a stronger manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While Badiou, Žižek, and McGowan do not have identical conceptualizations of universality, they do share a great deal in common. A key theme uniting much of their thought is a sustained engagement with the work of Hegel, Marx, and Lacan. See McGowan (2010) for commentary. The Hegelian-inflected dialectical thinking deployed to think through the issue of universality is especially important for this article.

2 In his summation of W. E. B Du Bois’s thoughts on the alleged ‘neutrality’ of American sociology, Aldon Morris (2017a, 210) summarizes it in the following way: ‘Du Bois’s lead is instructive. He refused to hide behind smokescreens of a value-free sociology because his goal was to develop an analytically powerful science that could serve as a weapon to overthrow domination. In this view, the myth of a value-neutral sociology leads to pseudo-science useful to tyrants.’

3 For additional commentary on Du Bois’ ability to ‘think the universal,’ see McGowan (2019: 186–188).

4 Badiou (2022) also notes how the ‘freedoms’ of modern capitalism are nothing other than ‘freedom of opinions’ – the opposite of there being an absolute truth, which could embody authentic universality.

5 Along these lines, while discussing the Haitian revolution, C. L. R. James ([1963] 1989, x) noted that Toussaint [L'Ouverture] did not make the revolution. It was the revolution that made Toussaint.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jason C. Mueller

Jason C. Mueller is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Kennesaw State University. His transdisciplinary research explores critical theories of global capitalism, ideology, culture, and political violence. His prior work has been published in Critical Sociology, Peace Review, and Progress in Development Studies.