Rastko Mocnik
Encyclopedia
Rastko Močnik is a Slovenia
n sociologist, literary theorist, translator and political activist. Together with Slavoj Žižek
and Mladen Dolar
, he is considered one of the co-founders of the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis
.
He was born as Josip Rastko Močnik in a middle-class family in Ljubljana
. He studied sociology and history of literature at the University of Ljubljana
, graduating in 1968 under the supervision of Dušan Pirjevec
. During his student years, he was active in several avant-garde literary movements. In 1964, he became the last co-editor (together with the poet Tomaž Šalamun
) of the alternative journal Perspektive, before it was closed down by the Communist regime. Between 1968 and 1970 he worked as a journalist at the journal Delo
. He later studied at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales
in Paris
, where he obtained a PhD in philosophy under the supervision of Algirdas Julien Greimas
.
After returning to Ljubljana, he became the editor of the alternative journal Problemi. During this period, he started a close collaboration with philosophers Slavoj Žižek
and Mladen Dolar
. Since 1984, Močnik is professor of sociology at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana.
Močnik was among the first Slovene theorists who introduced structuralism
and the theories of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser
in Slovenian academia. He has written on several subjects including theory of ideology
, theoretical psychoanalysis
, semiotics
, linguistics and epistemology of humanities
and social sciences
. He has also translated works of Jacques Lacan
, Émile Durkheim
and Marcel Mauss
into Slovene.
Močnik has also been active in several civil and political movements in Slovenia. In the early 1980s, he was one of the most outspoken opponents of a high school education reform, carried out by the Communist Party, in which the classical grammar schools (the so-called gymnasium
) were abolished as a supposed remainder of old burgeoise elitism. In 1982, he also wrote a petition against such reform, together with editor Braco Rotar, social theorist Neda Pagon and jurist Matevž Krivic. The petition was signed by over 600 intellectuals, and was one of the first wide and openly critical civil society
initiatives in Socialist Slovenia
. Between 1988 and 1990, he served on the board of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
, the main civil society organization in Slovenia during the process of democartization. In the early 1990s, he opposed the dissolution of Yugoslavia
, was critical of the DEMOS coalition and Slovenian independence.
In 1990, Močnik was elected president of a small extra-parliamentary party, called Social Democratic Union (Socialdemokratska unija, SDU), which was liked to Ante Marković
's Union of Reform Forces
. The party failed to win any significant popular support, and remained outside of the Slovenian Parliament. After its dissolution in the early 1990s, Močnik left party politics, but continued to participate in the public debate. In the late 1990s, he opposed the Slovenian entry in NATO. He has also been highly critical of the Bologna process
.
Močnik also writes weekly columns in the Slovene radical journal Mladina
and is a member of the Advisory Board of the regional left-wing magazine Novi Plamen
.
.
In 2008, his article "Slovene historians on the Destruction of Yugoslav Federation" published in a special issue of the review Borec
under the name Oddogodenje zgodovine – primer Jugoslavije ("The Uneventment of History - The Case of Yugoslavia") together with contributions by the "new generation" of Slovenian historians and young foreign researchers such as Ozren Pupovac, Alberto Toscano
and Geoffroy Geraud-Legros, became highly polemical as he criticized some trends on historical revisionism
in contemporary Slovenian historiography. In the article, Močnik accused three of the most prominent contemporary Slovene historians, Peter Vodopivec
, Jože Pirjevec
and Božo Repe, all of whom are considered to be close to left wing or left liberal positions, of nationalist
bias.
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n sociologist, literary theorist, translator and political activist. Together with Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis....
and Mladen Dolar
Mladen Dolar
Mladen Dolar is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist, film critic and expert in psychoanalysis.Dolar was born in Maribor as the son of the literary critic Jaro Dolar. In 1978 he graduated in Philosophy and French language at the University of Ljubljana, where he graduated under the...
, he is considered one of the co-founders of the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis
Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis
Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis , also known as the Ljubljana Lacanian School is a popular name for a post-structuralist and Lacanian school of thought centred around the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prominent members of the school include Slavoj Žižek,...
.
He was born as Josip Rastko Močnik in a middle-class family in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
. He studied sociology and history of literature at the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
, graduating in 1968 under the supervision of Dušan Pirjevec
Dušan Pirjevec
Dušan Pirjevec, known by his battle name Ahac , was a Slovenian resistance fighter, literary historian and philosopher...
. During his student years, he was active in several avant-garde literary movements. In 1964, he became the last co-editor (together with the poet Tomaž Šalamun
Tomaz Salamun
Tomaž Šalamun is a Slovenian poet. He was born in 1941 in Zagreb, Croatia, and raised in Koper, Slovenia. He has published 39 collections of poetry in his native Slovenian language. Šalamun spent two years at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop in the 1970s and has lived for periods of time in...
) of the alternative journal Perspektive, before it was closed down by the Communist regime. Between 1968 and 1970 he worked as a journalist at the journal Delo
Delo
Delo is the largest national daily newspaper in Slovenia. It was established on May 1st, 1959, when two newspapers Ljudska pravica and Slovenski poročevalec merged. Nowadays, it is the most influential and credible daily newspaper in Slovenia...
. He later studied at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he obtained a PhD in philosophy under the supervision of Algirdas Julien Greimas
Algirdas Julien Greimas
Algirdas Julien Greimas , known among other things for the Greimas Square, is considered, along with Roland Barthes, the most prominent of the French semioticians. With his training in linguistics, he added to the theory of signification and laid the foundations for the Paris School of Semiotics...
.
After returning to Ljubljana, he became the editor of the alternative journal Problemi. During this period, he started a close collaboration with philosophers Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis....
and Mladen Dolar
Mladen Dolar
Mladen Dolar is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist, film critic and expert in psychoanalysis.Dolar was born in Maribor as the son of the literary critic Jaro Dolar. In 1978 he graduated in Philosophy and French language at the University of Ljubljana, where he graduated under the...
. Since 1984, Močnik is professor of sociology at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana.
Močnik was among the first Slovene theorists who introduced structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
and the theories of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
in Slovenian academia. He has written on several subjects including theory of ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
, theoretical psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, linguistics and epistemology of humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
and social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
. He has also translated works of Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
, Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
and Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss was a French sociologist. The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss' academic work traversed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology...
into Slovene.
Močnik has also been active in several civil and political movements in Slovenia. In the early 1980s, he was one of the most outspoken opponents of a high school education reform, carried out by the Communist Party, in which the classical grammar schools (the so-called gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
) were abolished as a supposed remainder of old burgeoise elitism. In 1982, he also wrote a petition against such reform, together with editor Braco Rotar, social theorist Neda Pagon and jurist Matevž Krivic. The petition was signed by over 600 intellectuals, and was one of the first wide and openly critical civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
initiatives in Socialist Slovenia
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...
. Between 1988 and 1990, he served on the board of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights was a civil society organization in Slovenia, which functioned during the so-called Slovenian Spring between 1988 and 1990....
, the main civil society organization in Slovenia during the process of democartization. In the early 1990s, he opposed the dissolution of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, was critical of the DEMOS coalition and Slovenian independence.
In 1990, Močnik was elected president of a small extra-parliamentary party, called Social Democratic Union (Socialdemokratska unija, SDU), which was liked to Ante Marković
Ante Markovic
Ante Marković was a statesman of the former Yugoslavia. He was the last prime minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- Early life :...
's Union of Reform Forces
Union of Reform Forces
The Union of Reform Forces is a former political party in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, led by Ante Marković.The party was short-lived and fairly unsuccessful, but it later served as a basis for liberal parties in Serbia and in the Republic of Macedonia The Union of Reform Forces...
. The party failed to win any significant popular support, and remained outside of the Slovenian Parliament. After its dissolution in the early 1990s, Močnik left party politics, but continued to participate in the public debate. In the late 1990s, he opposed the Slovenian entry in NATO. He has also been highly critical of the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
.
Močnik also writes weekly columns in the Slovene radical journal Mladina
Mladina
Mladina is a Slovenian weekly left-wing current affairs magazine. It was first published in the 1920s as the youth magazine of the Slovenian Communist Party...
and is a member of the Advisory Board of the regional left-wing magazine Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen is a left-wing magazine for political, social and cultural issues primarily aimed at intellectual audiences on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and the related diaspora. It is a leading publication of its kind in the region, published by the Demokratska misao publishing company...
.
Controversies
Močnik's amibiguous positions in the years 1989-1991, when he was critical of Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia, was criticized by many at the time, and has remained one of the frequent political reproaches against him, including from former conservative Prime Minister Janez JanšaJanez Janša
Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...
.
In 2008, his article "Slovene historians on the Destruction of Yugoslav Federation" published in a special issue of the review Borec
Boreč
Boreč is a village and municipality in Mladá Boleslav District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. -References:*This article was initially translated from the Czech Wikipedia....
under the name Oddogodenje zgodovine – primer Jugoslavije ("The Uneventment of History - The Case of Yugoslavia") together with contributions by the "new generation" of Slovenian historians and young foreign researchers such as Ozren Pupovac, Alberto Toscano
Alberto Toscano
Alberto Toscano is a cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher and translator best known to the English-speaking world for his translations of the work of Alain Badiou, including Badiou’s The Century and Logics of Worlds...
and Geoffroy Geraud-Legros, became highly polemical as he criticized some trends on historical revisionism
Historical revisionism
In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...
in contemporary Slovenian historiography. In the article, Močnik accused three of the most prominent contemporary Slovene historians, Peter Vodopivec
Peter Vodopivec
Peter Vodopivec is a Slovenian historian and public intellectual.He was born in a Slovene family in Belgrade, Serbia, then capital of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He studied history at the University of Ljubljana...
, Jože Pirjevec
Jože Pirjevec
Jože Pirjevec is a Slovene historian from Italy. He is one of the most prominent diplomatic historians of the west Balkans region, and member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts....
and Božo Repe, all of whom are considered to be close to left wing or left liberal positions, of nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
bias.