Subjectivity and cultural critique
Anthropological Theory February 25, 2005 DOI: 10.1177/1463499605050867 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 420 |
| Key points | Argues that scholarship seeking to restore 'the actor' tends to neglect subjectivity, understood as complex 'structures of feeling.' Drawing on Weber and Geertz, the article contends that subjectivity involves both existential anxieties and culturally and historically specific constructions of 'consciousness,' and proposes that postmodern consciousness can be read as a configuration of anxieties tied to 'late capitalism.' |
Abstract
In the many works that try to bring back ‘the actor’ in some sense, there is a tendency to avoid questions of subjectivity, that is, complex ‘structures of feeling’ (in Raymond Williams’s phrase). This article returns to the work of Max Weber and Clifford Geertz to consider various issues of subjectivity, including both fundamental existential anxieties, and specific cultural and historical constructions of ‘consciousness’. The article concludes with a rereading of several recent texts on postmodern consciousness as a specific configuration of anxieties, tied in turn to formations of ‘late capitalism’.