The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection (Paperback)

~ Judith Butler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Judith Butler's writing has become a cornerstone of queer theory. In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex, she drew upon Freud, Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan to explore the connections between sex, politics, and identity, and The Psychic Life of Power continues her inquiry into these ideas. While she revisits, and revises, some of her earlier thoughts--such as her theory of gender as performance--she breaks much new ground here. Using Hegel and Nietzsche (as well as a critique of psychoanalysis) for theoretical support, Butler probes how the idea of "subjection"--to become a subject, to have a consciousness--interfaces with having a gay or lesbian identity. Discussing such topics as drag, gays-in-the-military, and AIDS to illustrate her ideas, Butler manages to locate her philosophical theories in a concrete world, and although her earlier work could sometimes be as dense as it was rewarding, The Psychic Life of Power is lucid and highly readable. --Michael Bronski

Review

“The emergence of self-consciousness is rooted in paradox—for becoming a subject is intricately bound up with being subjected. This insight . . . is explored and developed as [Butler’s] book unfolds, taking the reader through a tour de force of its rhetorical, linguistic, philosophical, psychoanalytic, and social and political implications.”—Modern Psychoanalysis

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Product Details Paperback: 228 pages Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1997) Language: English ISBN-10: 0804728127 ISBN-13: 978-0804728126 Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #341,421 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Look Inside This Book

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover

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Citations (learn more)

100 books cite this book:

• The Burdens of Intimacy: Psychoanalysis and Victorian Masculinity by Christopher Lane in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis by Tim Dean on page 142, page 320, and page 450
• Coming Out in Christianity: Religion, Identity, and Community by Melissa M. Wilcox in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
• Mobile Cultures: New Media in Queer Asia (Console-ing Passions) by Chris Berry on page 51, and Back Matter
• Loss: The Politics of Mourning by David L. Eng in Front Matter, and page 369

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	74% buy the item featured on this page: The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection 3.8 out of 5 stars (5) $19.46
	11% buy Giving an Account of Oneself 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) $9.63
	7% buy Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge Classics) 3.4 out of 5 stars (24) $10.93
	5% buy Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence (Reprint) 3.4 out of 5 stars (5) $13.57

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars A Continuation of Thoughts on Subjectivity, February 4, 2001 By  "ladyqueen" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews This is a contituation from her earlier publications, "Gender Trouble," "Bodies That Matter." Those who read these two texts would find this book extremely interesting. Butler seems to move her theorization of subjectivity from the materiality of the body (in previous texts) to the psychic realm of subjectivity. Please note that this is NOT a reflection of Cartesian dichotomy of mind/body. Rather, I understand her move as strategic choice, in order to deepen her analysis of power and its relation to psychic realm, before delving into the inextricable reality of psyche and body. Here Butler draws on the works of various philosophers, such as Hegel, Althusser,Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault and so on, to explicate the complex process through which power engenders a psychic form (see intro), and constitutes a self. As always, her eloquent rhetorical style and brilliant epistemological turns are amazing enough. 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Psyche Meets Subject, September 29, 2001 By A Customer I've read this book three times in the past several months in preparation for giving a talk on post-structural perspectives on early childhood gender and sexual development in psychoanalysis. As always, I find the effort it takes to understand Butler's writing to pay off richly in the brilliance of her arguments. In particular, I was drawn to two sections in this book: the first a reconsidering of who it is that turns to become a subject in Althusser's model of interpellation, and the second an exchange of papers with psychoanalyst Adam Phillips in which both grapple with how her work might be informed by psychoanalytic practice and the practice might be informed by her work. Having read this book both prior to and after immersing myself in Freud, Lacan and some of their major commentators, I found that I got far more out of Butler's book with a stronger background in the language and assumptions of psychoanalysis. 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The Paradox of Subjection, May 14, 2001 By  oudeis - See all my reviews In *The Psychic Life of Power* Judith Butler provides a critical inquiry into the process of subject formation that reveals the self-conscious subject as necessary paradox. Her main argument is that the emergence of the subject depends on subjection to power and yet the subject that is inaugurated exceeds this power, because subjection can never fully totalize the subject. In order to elaborate her theoretical movements Butler draws on Hegel, Nietzsche, Foucault, Althusser, and Freud. The main metaphors for understanding the works of subjection are the turning of the subject on itself and the interpellation of the subject by the other. Consciousness and desire function as guiding categories for the analysis. Taking on the much discussed question of the possibility of agency Butler shows that the normalizing effect of social norms always produces an inassimilable remainder in the subject from where resistance against those norms becomes possible. *The Psychic Life of Power* provides a very powerful rethinking of the question of subjectivity and self-consciousness, even though - or maybe because of - the individual chapters' appearance as separate essays. In the introduction, however, Butler reveals how the various explorations all fit together in her thinking. A new stage of Butlerian lucidity - in and on Butlerian terms, though.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 1.0 out of 5 stars Overrated, Outdated and Mostly a Waste of Time Are you a man who is attracted to women? Did you know why? It's because when you were an infant, you wanted to have sex with other men but your parents told you not to. Read more Published on January 14, 2007 by Todd A. Foose 5.0 out of 5 stars Butler Par Excellence This Butler is her best yet. It is imaginative, provocative, and excellently argues. She moves through a number of theories and discourses including Althusser, Freudian... Read more Published on April 9, 2005 by Lost Lacanian Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804728127
• ISBN-13: 978-0804728126
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #341,421 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Continuation of Thoughts on Subjectivity, February 4, 2001

By	"ladyqueen" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This is a contituation from her earlier publications, "Gender Trouble," "Bodies That Matter." Those who read these two texts would find this book extremely interesting. Butler seems to move her theorization of subjectivity from the materiality of the body (in previous texts) to the psychic realm of subjectivity. Please note that this is NOT a reflection of Cartesian dichotomy of mind/body. Rather, I understand her move as strategic choice, in order to deepen her analysis of power and its relation to psychic realm, before delving into the inextricable reality of psyche and body. Here Butler draws on the works of various philosophers, such as Hegel, Althusser,Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault and so on, to explicate the complex process through which power engenders a psychic form (see intro), and constitutes a self. As always, her eloquent rhetorical style and brilliant epistemological turns are amazing enough.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Psyche Meets Subject, September 29, 2001

By A Customer

I've read this book three times in the past several months in preparation for giving a talk on post-structural perspectives on early childhood gender and sexual development in psychoanalysis. As always, I find the effort it takes to understand Butler's writing to pay off richly in the brilliance of her arguments. In particular, I was drawn to two sections in this book: the first a reconsidering of who it is that turns to become a subject in Althusser's model of interpellation, and the second an exchange of papers with psychoanalyst Adam Phillips in which both grapple with how her work might be informed by psychoanalytic practice and the practice might be informed by her work. Having read this book both prior to and after immersing myself in Freud, Lacan and some of their major commentators, I found that I got far more out of Butler's book with a stronger background in the language and assumptions of psychoanalysis.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Paradox of Subjection, May 14, 2001

By	oudeis - See all my reviews

In *The Psychic Life of Power* Judith Butler provides a critical inquiry into the process of subject formation that reveals the self-conscious subject as necessary paradox. Her main argument is that the emergence of the subject depends on subjection to power and yet the subject that is inaugurated exceeds this power, because subjection can never fully totalize the subject. In order to elaborate her theoretical movements Butler draws on Hegel, Nietzsche, Foucault, Althusser, and Freud. The main metaphors for understanding the works of subjection are the turning of the subject on itself and the interpellation of the subject by the other. Consciousness and desire function as guiding categories for the analysis. Taking on the much discussed question of the possibility of agency Butler shows that the normalizing effect of social norms always produces an inassimilable remainder in the subject from where resistance against those norms becomes possible. *The Psychic Life of Power* provides a very powerful rethinking of the question of subjectivity and self-consciousness, even though - or maybe because of - the individual chapters' appearance as separate essays. In the introduction, however, Butler reveals how the various explorations all fit together in her thinking. A new stage of Butlerian lucidity - in and on Butlerian terms, though.