Subjectification

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The subjectivisation ( latin "subjicere": suspend subject) is a term from the social sciences, humanities and cultural studies. It describes the change in the perceptual perspective when the objective properties of a fact or an object are distorted by the subjective perception process of a person .

The term is used in many ways: On the one hand, there are approaches to describe the subjectification of social relationships, for example in the sociology of work and in the individualization thesis . On the other hand, subjectification shows how individuals are made subjects in social processes . These approaches fall back on post-structuralism .

The literature and media studies use subjectivation to describe how narratives, filtered through the consciousness of a figure, can be presented anew. Christine Brinckmann also defines subjectification as a deviation from the representing norm as long as an objective corrective is offered for the subjective view or as long as it is clear that the figure's perception of reality is distorted.

(Post) structuralism and discourse analysis

Louis Althusser describes subjectification in ideology and ideological state apparatus as an ideological invocation . The individual becomes a subject when he is assigned a position in a structure. To do this, Althusser uses the image of a policeman who shouts “Hey you there!”, Which makes you feel addressed and recognizes yourself as the subject of police access. The self-image of the individual as a subject is described as an ideological effect that in turn contributes to the reproduction of capitalist relationships. In contrast to the concept of the subject in classical philosophy, what is significant for Althusser is that a subject is not simply given, but rather is produced in a process .

For Michel Foucault , subjectification stands in opposition to the classical understanding of the subject as given. In early works, as in Althusser's work, subjectification is understood as the insertion into an order, as a fixation on a subject position. The later Foucault emphasizes the self-formations and self- techniques that underlie the genesis of the subject. Foucault speaks here of a “concern for yourself”.

Judith Butler uses Althusser's invocation model , but criticizes the fact that this assumes a closed order from which an unbroken subjectification can take place. With recourse to Jacques Derrida's concept of iterability , she points out that the reproduction of an order in invocation never works like a closed cycle. Similar to the citation, slight shifts in meaning always take place in the repetition of invocations . These shifts, for their part, open up a space for political action and the subversion of orders.

Jacques Rancière finally describes subjectivation as the process of dis-identification with the categories of an existing order. Subjectivation is the political process in which those who are denied the ability to speak or who are denied their existence as a collective make themselves heard.

Individualization thesis

In the individualization thesis, which largely goes back to Ulrich Beck , subjectification is initially understood as a change in society . This describes an increased importance of the subject . That is why subjects capable of reflection and action are able to influence the socialization processes. Against this background, Beck turns against all approaches that neglect the individual and calls for a "subjectification of sociology". In the context of the individualization thesis, subjectification is essentially understood synonymously with individualization and personalization .

Work and industrial sociology

In work and industrial sociology, subjectification describes a change in the world of work that begins with post-industrialization. Processes of decollectivization and an increased importance of the individual are identified. In this context, the subject is looked at beyond its individual roles and functions. Gender questions, questions of reproductive work and questions of the value orientation of workers are discussed.

While a post-structuralist perspective would rather ask about subjectification through work, the focus here is on the subjectification of work, insofar as the importance of the 'whole person' for work is addressed. Subjectification is sometimes seen in connection with a “ humanization of the world of work ”. However, some researchers also make explicit delimitations.

The industrial sociologists Frank Kleemann and Gerd-Günter Voss describe the u. a. Humanization efforts associated with the state research program for the humanization of working life from the 1970s z. B. as directed more towards the objective working conditions and therefore even "anti-subjectivist". On the other hand, the humanization of work is traced back more to the initiative of employees, while subjectification is described as the utilization of subjectivity for economic purposes.

Post-Fordism leads to an increasing delimitation of work and the working subject is discovered as a factor of production. In contrast to Taylorism , on the one hand the creativity and innovation of the workers should be promoted, on the other hand managerial tasks are transferred to the working subjects. G. Günter Voss and Hans J. Pongratz speak of the labor entrepreneur . In connection with Michel Foucault , Ulrich Bröckling also speaks of the “entrepreneurial self”.

Practice theories

Practice theories usually brace the subject and break it down into structures of action ( Pierre Bourdieu ) or in-situ practices ( ethnomethodology , Erving Goffman ). In the more recent practical theoretical approaches, the necessary interlinking of subjectification and practice is asked. In these texts, the (post-) structuralist and discourse-analytical theories of subjectivation are used. It is emphasized that subjectification does not only depend on large discourse formations, but is always embedded in the implementation of practice in a situational manner. In this way, subjectification is expanded to include a microsociological perspective.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christine Brinckmann: The voice-over as a subjective narrative structure of film noir . In: Mariann Lewinsky, Alexandra Schneider (ed.): The anthropomorphic camera and other writings on filmic narration . Chronos, Zurich (= Zurich Film Studies , 3)
  2. ^ Louis Althusser: Idéologie et appareils idéologiques d'État. Notes for a research . In: Positions . Éditions sociales, Paris 1976, pp. 79-137.
  3. ↑ Michel Foucault: Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison . Gallimard, Paris 1975.
  4. ↑ Michel Foucault: Le Gouvernement de soi et des autres. Cours au Collège de France. 1982-1983 . Gallimard, Paris 2008. And Michel Foucault: Concern for yourself - sexuality and truth , 3. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1989.
  5. ^ Judith Butler : Excitable Speech. A Politics of the Performative . Routledge, New York / London 1997.
  6. ↑ Jacques Rancière: La mésentente. Politique et philosophie . Galilée, Paris 1995. And Jacques Rancière: Dix thèses sur la politique . In: Aux bords du politique . Gallimard, Paris 2004, pp. 221-254.
  7. ↑ Cf. on subjectification in the individualization thesis Matthias Junge: Subjectivation of Vergesellschaftung and the moralization of sociology . In: Jürgen Friedrichs (ed.): The individualization thesis . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1998, p. 51 ff.
  8. ^ Frank Kleemann, G. Günter Voss: Work and Subject . In: Fritz Böhle, G. Günter Voss, Günter Wachtler (eds.): Handbook of work sociology . VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 427-431.
  9. ^ Frank Kleemann, G. Günter Voss: Work and Subject . In: Fritz Böhle, G. Günter Voss, Günter Wachtler (eds.): Handbook of work sociology . VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 415-450.
  10. ↑ Cf. Frank Kleemann, Ingo Matuschek, G. Günter Voss: Subjectivization of work - an overview of the state of the discussion . (PDF) In: Manfred Mondaschel, G. Günter Voss (Hrsg.): Subjectivization of work . 2nd Edition. Rainer Hampp Verlag, Munich / Mehring 2003, pp. 69–73.
  11. ^ G. Günter Voss, Hans J. Pongratz: The worker entrepreneur. A new basic form of labor? In: Cologne Journal for Sociology and Social Psychology , No. 1, 1998, pp. 131–158.
  12. ^ Ulrich Bröckling: The entrepreneurial self. Sociology of a form of subjectivation . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 2007.
  13. ^ Andreas Reckwitz: The hybrid subject. A theory of subject cultures from bourgeois modernity to postmodernism . Velbrück Wissenschaft, Weilerswist, 2006, ISBN 978-3-938808-90-0 .
  14. ^ Thomas Alkemeyer: Subjectivation in social practices. Outlines of a praxeological analysis . In: Thomas Alkemeyer, Gunilla Budde, Dagmar Freist (eds.): Self-formations. Social and cultural practices of subjectivation . transcript, Bielefeld 2013, pp. 29-64.