Subjectivity and Power

JOCHEN DREHER; DANIELA GRISELDA LÓPEZ

Gotemburgo

Congreso; XII ISA World Congress of Sociology; 2010

International Sociological Association (ISA)

The aim of this work is to examine the potentiality of the issue of subjectivity to give account of the phenomena of power and inequality. We will base our analysis on Thomas Luckmann´s phenomenological and sociological considerations, emphasizing the constitutive and the constructive dimensions of the system of typifications and relevances, in doing so we will argue that they are shaped by power hierarchies. In opposition with those perspectives which consider phenomenological reflexions as nonpolitical, we will argue that the issue of the subjective consciousness of the individual actor and his or her life-world is of great value to analyze concrete manifestations of inequality, domination and exploitation. We will offer a specific conception to investigate the relationship of subjectivity and power in describing a "parallel action" which on the one hand studies, from a phenomenological perspective, the subjective constitution of power differences and on the other hand, from a sociological perspective, analyzes the socio-historical construction of exactly these power differences.