Subjectivation or subjectification is a sociological and philosophical concept that deals with the construction of certain forms of subjectivity or identity. The term is used primarily in the critical theory of the study of individualization, sometimes in combination with Louis Althusser's interpellation concept. The term subjectivation was devised by Michel Foucault and plays a role in the analysis of power and representation. The concept was further elaborated by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in Mille plateaux (1980). It also comes with Gilbert Simondon. Overview

According to authors such as Foucault, forms of identity or subjectivity are not given a priori, but they are the product of social or historical structures. Foucault plays here primarily with the double meaning of the word 'subject' derived from the Latin concept of subjectum (literally: support level). This can both be a particular identity and subjection to a given given.

People thus acquire the status of subject (for example, legal subject, but also something like an economic subject) by "subjecting" to a particular argument. Such a statement decides on what is said and not said (and thus thought and not thought). A certain form of motivation also makes it possible for people to understand themselves (and their neighbors) in a certain way, depending on the one under which they are subjected.

These representations are in turn associated with certain forms of power: they are certain authoritative sources that make the form of expression. The work of Foucault focuses on how the emergence of humanities intertwines with discipline of society and a specific understanding of what it means to be human. The sociologist, marxist, economist, psychologist or psychoanalyst, in a sense, has the final word about what a subject really wants in life. The sociologist will see man as a being rather than social contacts and communication; the Marxist as embedded in the class struggle; the economist as an amount of human capital and gay economist; the psychoanalytician as a being who wishes to express his desires; and so on. In the past, this task was in the hands of pastors or medical professionals.

The American feminist Judith Butler associates this with the concept of gender. The "inferior" position of women in society is largely a product by a specific subjecting. In this sense, one is not born as a woman, but makes this performative true by marking herself (and others) as a woman. Another possible example is Edward Said's accusation against "orientalism": the dominant Western view imposes the inhabitants of the East in a specific, one-sided way.

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