The Ethics and Politics of Subjectivity

Abstract

This chapter offers a reading of Butler’s theory of subjectivity in the context of politics and ethics. It expands on the political and ethical stakes of subjectivity by investigating the constructed character of identity in relation to subversive agency as well as analysing the dynamics of the formation of the subject in ek-stasis (ecstasy) and vulnerability to the other. I begin with a critical review of the controversies around Butler’s shift of focus away from the politics of performativity towards a more explicit engagement with ethics in her post-2000 writings. In so doing, I highlight the relation between the ethical and political dimensions of subjectivity to show that Butler’s ethical work is located within the political sphere and thus remains consistent with her earlier conceptions of performativity. As Butler’s theory of subject formation unfolds from performativity to ethical relationality, we come to see her conception of subjectivity being informed by an interconnected politics and ethics. I close this chapter with a discussion on how transgressive desire and subversive boundary crossing interact in the formation of subjectivity.