Chapter 4. Recognition versus redistribution?

Abstract

The study of book translation flows has become a crucial tool in understanding cultural dynamics during a period of globalization. This chapter applies a thematic analysis of such flows to the understanding of debates in the Spanish left since the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis. Utilizing a conceptual opposition formulated by Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth, the study tests to what extent struggles over identity and difference (“recognition”) might obscure or hinder the importance of the struggle for the improvement of material conditions (“redistribution”) of a majority of people. To this end, the chapter conducts a range of analyses and classifications of the translation choices made by a group of politically committed publishers.