Reintegrating sense into subjectification

Hildebrand-Nilshon, Martin; Motzkau, Johanna and Papadopoulos, Dimitris (2001). Reintegrating sense into subjectification. In: Morss, John R.; Stephenson, Niamh and Rappard, Hans van eds. Theoretical issues in psychology. Boston, USA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 289–300.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6817-6_25

URL: http://www.springer.com/uk/home/generic/search/res...

Abstract

Subjectification displays the specific processes forming individual existence in the multiple interrelations between persons and their surroundings. In this sense subjectification corresponds to the idea of an individual as the intersection of the production of meaning and the efficacy of power. In this paper we want to assert that subjectification is more than the mere positioning of the individual between tangents of meaning and practice; it also entails the necessity of creating sense through the subjective reorganization of the conduct of self and of others. The driving force of this movement emerges from the political and social affinities realized by the participating subjects. In our paper we also wish to argue for the historical specificity of such a conception. That is, the notion of an individual both dialogical and self-reflective, although represented by alternative psychologies as the key presupposition for a critical stance in psychology, seems to reflect primarily the dominant postindustrial realities of North-Atlantic countries. Finally we offer an insight into some of the central aspects of current socioeconomic reasoning in psychological theories.