Review Essay: Knowledge, Subjectivity and Politics

Authors

  • Thomas Pfister Universität Konstanz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-11.3.1531

Keywords:

biomedicine, citizen conferences, Foucault, governmentality, neoliberalism, participation, self-governance, subject, subjectification, science, knowledge society, civil society

Abstract

The main interest of the study reviewed in this essay is in manifestations of subjectivity in the knowledge society. The first part demonstrates how the discourse on a knowledge society also constructs the dominant notion of an autonomous, self-reliant and intellectually capable subject. Then, the book traces how individuals act and constitute themselves in response to the discursive call for specific forms of subjectivity, focusing on a set of citizen conferences on biomedical issues. It thus, especially in its latter part, provides original and surprising insights, but this part is given too little space compared to the first part, leaving the reader wanting more. The essay then engages in a broader debate, discussing two further points in addition to the insights of the review. First, it scrutinises the function of science, which plays a key role in those negotiations where the knowledge society is constituted and shaped. Secondly, it seeks to refine the notion of politics, which should be comprehensive yet not too general. It therefore suggests understanding politics as a gradual phenomenon, which might be omnipresent but becomes particularly manifest in certain situations. In order to analyze politics in the context of pluralizing knowledges, it especially recommends focusing on situations where agency and agonistic contestations become visible. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1003207

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Author Biography

Thomas Pfister, Universität Konstanz

Thomas PFISTER (PhD, Queen's University Belfast) ist Politikwissenschaftler und arbeitet zurzeit als Post-doc-Stipendiat am Exzellenzcluster "Kulturelle Grundlagen von Integration" an der Universität Konstanz; seine gegenwärtigen Forschungsinteressen beruhen vor allem auf der politischen Relevanz von Expert/innenstatus, Wissensproduktion und der wechselseitigen Verschränkung von Wissenschaft und Politik, vor allem im Bereich europäischer Integration. Darüber hinaus beschäftigt er sich mit empirischen und theoretischen Fragen rund um Citizenship und mit sozialpolitischen Modernisierungsdiskursen in der EU.

Published

2010-08-24

How to Cite

Pfister, T. (2010). Review Essay: Knowledge, Subjectivity and Politics. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-11.3.1531