Materiality and Subject in Marxism, (Post-)Structuralism, and Material Semiotics

1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-137-59836-3
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Buch, Englisch, 143 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 323 g

In recent decades, what is known as 'the subject' has been problematized by various old and new materialisms and today appears as decentered in and by language, split by the unconscious, deformed by social forces, governed by ideology and is either seen to have succumbed to the postmodern condition or to never have existed in the first place. Every materialist theory of the subject depends on a conception of materiality, which can delineate the character of what the material reality, which de-centers or constitutes the subject consists of.
Materiality and Subject in Marxism, (Post-)Structuralism, and Material Semiotics investigates the relation between materiality and the subject in the materialist approaches of Marxism, (post-)structuralism, and material semiotics. None of these approaches subscribes to a reductionist materialism; rather, they conceive of materiality as multiple, complex, and not reducible to tangible matter. For each approach, the modalities of materiality of the respective materialism are defined. The relationship between the multiple materialities and the subject constituted and decentered in this relationship are presented as specific to the theoretical approaches discussed.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Beetz, Johannes

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Dekonstruktivismus, Strukturalismus, Poststrukturalismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Marxismus, Kommunismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction.- 2. Prelude: The Cartesian Subject and German Idealism.- 3. The Materiality of Conditions and the Subject of Ideology.- 4. Structural Causality and Material Ideology.- 5. The Materiality of Language and the Decentered Subject.- 6. Material Semiotics and the Rhizomatic Subject.- 7. Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Johannes Beetz is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, UK. He studied sociology, philosophy, and American studies at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany. His research interests include Critical Theory & Marxism, Discourse Studies, and Post-Structuralist Theory.