Self-Understanding as a Working-Class Project: Mannheim's “Objectivity” and Judith Butler's “Resistance” by Way of Lukács

Abstract

Mannheim's theory of self-understanding may be seen as a generative process that assimilates old unconscious assumptions and produces new replacements for them. However, difficulties arise when Mannheim tries to establish that this process leads to a more “objective” viewpoint for individuals. To address this, one can consider Lukács' notion that self-reflection only achieves “objectivity” when it changes the structure of social reality and that this is only possible when it occurs at the class level. Since Lukács explicitly connects “objectivity” with the ability to transform social structures, these insights relate to postmodern discussions of “resistance” to power such as the one found in Judith Butler's The Psychic Life of Power. Here the subversive potential of generating new possibilities remains limited when the “subject” is not conceived of at the class level and Lukács' theory remains helpful for avoiding fatalistic conceptions of the subject–power relation.