136-482 Imagined Societies

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year combined honours in social theory.

This subject critically engages with questions regarding the place of subjectivity in the constitution and organisation of social and political relations, at both the theoretical and empirical levels. It involves the study of political subjectivities, including race, gender and ethnicity. By engagement with such theorists as Lacan, Castoriadis, Kristeva, Foucault, Giddens and Habermas, the subject highlights the place of the imaginary and the unconscious in the formation of ideologies and subjectivities. Students who complete this subject should possess knowledge of some major contemporary debates regarding the formation and organisation of subjectivities; an understanding of the centrality of subjectivity to the organisation of social and political relations; an awareness of the difficulties associated with analysing subjectivities in late or postmodernity; and an acquaintance with some attempts to bring contemporary theories of subjectivity to the study of empirical cases.

Assessment will be based on an essay and an oral class presentation totalling 5000 words.