Subjectivity in Critical Theory

• Published in: International journal of research studies in language learning Vol. 4; no. 2; p. 17
• Main Author: Pourjafari, Fatemeh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malabon City Consortia Academia Publishing 01.07.2024
• Subjects: Critical theory; Psychology; Social construction; Subjectivity
• ISSN: 2243-7754; 2243-7754

The past decades have witnessed a relentless philosophical assault on the concept of subjectivity. While the traditional philosophy considered the subject as unitary, universal and self-sufficient, the more contemporary theories take into account the process of the construction of the subject through psychological drives, language, ideology or the material productions of culture. The critical theory occupies a distinguished position in regard to the issue of subjectivity because this tradition can be read as providing aspects of theorizing the social construction of subjectivity by having an eye on psychology, language, social interaction, and culture in specific historical contexts. The present study aims at demonstrating how the various theories and philosophical views have had different outlooks to the construction of subjectivity, and how the critical theory could be considered as a point of synthesis of different grounds of subject construction. Thinkers of this school provided many contributions to our understanding of subjectivity and agency, while challenging us to further rethink the problematics of subjectivity in relation to the socio-economic developments and political struggles of our own turbulent period.