Subjectivity Transformed

Thomas Vesting , Neil Solomon 지음

Polity 2023년 11월 28일 출간

작품소개

책소개

This book provides a historically informed reconstruction of the social practices that have shaped the formation of the modern subject from the early modern period to the present. The formal legal protections accorded to subjects are, and always have been, latent in social practices, norms, and language before they are articulated in formal legal orders. Vesting argues that in Western societies legal personhood is closely tied to three ideal types of social personhood what he calls the gentleman, the manager, and Homo digitalis. By examining these three ideal types and their emergence in society, we can see that Western formal law does not bring these ideal types into being but, on the contrary, they arise from the social and cultural conditions that they generate and reflect. Correspondingly, Western legal personhood, or “legal subjectivity,” arises from the history and culture of Western nations, not the other way around. Therefore, signature features of Western formal law, particularly its valorization of the rights of persons (whether natural or nonnatural), come from the particular sociohistorical cultural developments that had already generated the strong ideas of social personhood inherent in the ideal types of the gentleman, the manager, and Homo digitalis. Subjectivity Transformed is a major contribution to legal and social theory and, with its original analysis of the formation of modern subjectivity, it will be of interest to students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities.

목차

List of FiguresPreface§ 1 Introduction§ 2 Instituting Power§ 3 Culture as an Orientation-Forming Symbol System I. The Universalist Heritage of Cultural Theory II. The Dual Character of Modern Culture III. The Challenge of Information Technology§ 4 Creative Freedom as a Source of Cultural Dynamics I. Transsubjective Conditions of SubjectivityII. Imagination as Poetic MimesisIII. On the Event Character of the New§ 5 Bourgeois CultureI. The Gentleman as a Personality IdealII. The Technical Attitude to the World1. The Early Modern Era as a Foundational Phase of Disruption2. Fulfillment through Tireless Effort?III. The Social Body and the Body PoliticIV. Formation of the Subject In the Mirror of SocietyV. Legal Subjectivity and the Practices of Liberty Instituted in SocietyVI. The Alien Claim and Disciplining Subjectification§ 6 The Anglo-American Variant: The Gentleman I. Experimental Thinking and Useful KnowledgeII. Sociability and Other VirtuesIII. The Mirror of Society Becomes Better EndowedIV. Inclusive Institutions and Instituting Power§ 7 The Continental Variant: Honnête homme and Bildungsb rgerI. The Sophisticated World of the Paris SalonsII. The German BildungsromanIII. Subjectification as Subjugation and Empowerment1. Invocation and Subjugation2. Empowerment by Means of the State§ 8 Managerial Culture I. The Rise of Large-Scale EnterprisesII. The Research and Development LaboratoryIII. Trust between Strangers 1. The Legacy of Spontaneous Sociability2. From the Inner-Directed

출판사 서평

“In this highly original work the author sets out several ideal types of modern individuals and shows how each responds to a world of social and technological change. This thought-provoking analysis will be vital for academics and policy-makers alike.”Lawrence Rosen, Princeton University

작가정보

저자(글) Thomas Vesting

저자(글) Neil Solomon