Poststructuralism and After: Structure, Subjectivity and Power

344 Pages·2013·58.63 MB·English

by  David Howarth

--- - - ·"'
- - -- .............. ..- .__ .... ....... ,_....,__.----:
"'
-t
::a
c:
n
-t
c:
::a
m
....
a~::
"'
c
::::)
m
I - •
m
u
n
-......
::::)
-
<:
......
a~:: ,..
-<
I -
«n
z
.c,
I -
«n
0
·~ o
~
m
a..
::a
DAVID R. HOWARTH
*
Poststructuralism and After
.I.
I.
Structure, Subjectivity and Power
~~·
•
'
David R. Howarth '
I
Reader in Social and Political Tlteor>~ Department of Govemmwt,
Univt!rsity o(£sscx, UK
I
•
,,
..
'
I
I
I
I
'
palgrave
mJcm illan
<0 David R. Howarth 2013
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any llcenct
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, ~ 10 Kirby Street, London EC1 N BTS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of StMartin's Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgr~ve(J) and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137- 26697-2
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. logging. pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
I
A cet1logue record for this book is available from the British library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the library of Congress.
_,
----·- - ---·
Contents
Preface a!ld Ackrrowledgemmts vi
Introduction 1
1 The Poststructuralist Project 24
2 Problematizing Poststructuralism 56
3 Ontological Bearings 87
4 Deconstructing Structure and Agency 116
S Structure, Agency, and Affect 150
6 Rethinking Power and Domination 187
7 Identity, Interests, and Political Subjectivity 225
265
Condusion
277
Notes
293
Bibliography
317
Index
1
J
,
(
----------·- ·---
-
Preface and Acknowledgements
This book has taken a long time to finish. It was first commissioned
by Jan Craib as part of his 'Traditions in Social Theory' series, and
its overall form and content was then developed by the helpful prod
dings of Rob Stones. Initially conceived to include a discussion of
postmodernism, as well as developments in poststructuralist theory, it
was quickly evident that this was much too big a brief for one volume.
Indeed, even the attempt to discuss the ever-expanding contributions
in the poststructuralist tradition of theorizing proved to be a daunting,
if not overwhelming, task. Not only are the poststructuralist contribu
tions in the fields of social and political theory extensive, complex,
and increasingly diverse, but they have tended to break down tradj
tional disciplinary boundaries in the human and social sciences, whilst
insinuating themselves in each of them.
At the same time, I began to harbour a growing scepticism about
the uses and abuses of the concept of postmodernism in social the
ory, as well as the acrimonious and largely unproductive debates the
term has provoked. At the very least, in my view, postmodernism
I
and poststructuralism are not the same concepts, nor do they desig
nate a common style of thinking and approach in the social sciences.
As the book developed, it also became evident that my focus on the
dialectics of structure and agency, power and domination, affect and
subjectivity was too narrowly focussed to serve as a general discussion
of poststructuralist theory, even when restricted to social and political
theory. After discussions with my editors, it was decided that this mono
graph would be accompanied by a more introductory text on selected
topics in poststructuralism and social theory.
In many senses, Poststmcturalism and After: Stmcture, Subjectivity and
Power represents the culmination of an ongoing research project that
stretches back to my first endeavours to use Ernesto Laclau and Chantal
Mouffe's poststructuralist interpretation of Marxist theory to analyse
aspects of South African politics under apartheid domination and then
(in close collaboration with Steven Griggs) to explore the dynamics of
environmental movements and policymaking practices In the field of
UK aviation. A number of arguments In this book are intended to flesh
out and build upon some of the ontological assumptions and theoretical
vi
·----
-
~·- . - ... t . . .. _ • . ...... .J.J ..... ~ ~ ..
Prl'(nce n11d Arkllow/edgewl'll/5 vii
insights that were set out in earlier texts, especially the Logics a( Critical
ExplnnCition in Social ami Political Theory, which 1 co-wrote with jason
Glynos. They have also been enriched by my empirical study of the pol
itics of UK airports over the last 10 or 15 years, which 1 have conducted
with Steven Griggs; our thoughts on this topic are presented in Tlte Pol
itics of Airport Expa11sion in the United Ki11gdom: Hegemony, Policy a11d the
Rhetoric of 'Sustai11ab/e Aviatio11, as well as other articles and chapters.
Traces and reiterations of the ideas that were adumbrated in these books,
and in previous and subsequent journal articles, are evident at various
places in Poststmcturalism and Afier, and they are acknowledged in the
text. I would like to express my gratitude to Ernesto Laclau and Chantal
Mouffe, for disclosing these new possibilities in the Marxist tradition,
and to jason Glynos and Steven Griggs for helping me to develop and
apply poststructuralist political theory in the way I have.
In developing my arguments, I have been fortunate to benefit from
questions, comments, and criticisms from a number of people in various
forums. At the outset, I would like to thank the two anonymous readers
of my original manuscript, who offered many important insights and
thoughts about the arguments put forward in this book. The materials
that form the problematization of poststructuralism and the elabora
tion of the poststructuraJist project in the first two chapters have been
discussed in a number of public workshops and seminars. Elements
of the approach were presented at an Expert Seminar on Critical Dis
course AnaJysis in October 2008, which was convened in the Centre for
Theoretical Studies at the University of Essex. It formed part of an ESRC
sponsored Seminar Series on Methodological Innovation. Others were
elaborated in a series of lectures and seminars presented at Roskilde Uni
versity in Denmark and Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.
Allan Hansen, Peter Kitchenman, Eva S0rensen, and Jacob Torfmg made
our visits doubly enjoyable. Steven Griggs and I presented lectures and
workshops on these themes at Charles University In Prague in March
2011 and at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin in October
2012; our thanks to Anna Durnova and Daria lsachenko for inviting
us. My thanks to the participants of these seminars for their challenging
questions and for the stimulating discussions they provoked.
With respect to my discussion of ontology, which is examined
In Chapter 3, I presented some initial thoughts on the problem of
immanence and transcendence In contemporary discussions of ontol
ogy and politics at the Annual American Political Science Association
Conference in Washington in 2005. William Connolly, Lars T0nder,
Daniel Smith, and Jodie Dean offtred helpful thoughts and commeonts
i
viii Prr(ace nnd Acknowledgements
on the ideas presented there. I also discussed some of the strengths and
potential weaknesses of the 'new materialism' at the annual Western
Political Science Association conference in April 2011, as well as a
keynote address at the University of Hamburg in july of the same year.
I am grateful to jane Bennett, William Connolly, joshua Dienstag, Lars
H.mder, and Urs Staheli for their very useful reflections and comments.
Questions about the importance of practice, which are also discussed
in the chapter on ontology, were discussed in a seminar convened by
the Centre for Theoretical Studies on 'Policy as Practice' in May 2012.
I would like to thank Christian Bueger, Richard Freeman, Steven Griggs,
David Laws, Victoria Loughlan, jo Maybin, Tamara Metze, Aletta Norval,
Ted Schatzki, Merlijn van Hulst, and Henk Wagenaar for providing an
opportunity to explore the connections between poststructuralism and
contemporary 'practice theory'.
In many respects, the problem of structure and agency, and its inti
mate connection to our understanding of human affect and subjectivity,
as well questions about power, domination, and hegemony, constitutes
the heart of Poststructuralism and After. Some of the arguments that are
presented in this regard in Chapters 4-6 were discussed at the Annual
PSA Conference in Bath in April 2007 in a discussion of interpretivist
approaches to political analysis, and this essay (co-authored with jason
Glynos) was published in Political Studies Review in 2008. I would like
to thank Mark Bevir and Rod Rhodes for their verbal and written
comments on the ideas that were developed in this debate. Further
opportunities to elaborate on the theme of structure, agency, and power
were provided by invitations to present keynote addresses at the Fourth
Annual lnterpretivist Conference in Kassel in june 2009 and to deliver
the Annual Hinkley Lecture at johns Hopkins University in April 2010.
Frank Fischer, Frank Nullmeier, Bob Jessop, and Dvora Yanow offered
helpful comments and criticisms. A published version of these addresses
appeared in Critical Policy Sh1dies in 2010. Some of the thoughts on
hegemony were first elaborated in a paper entitled 'Deconstructing the
Rhetoric of Sustainable Aviation in the UK', which was delivered to the
Annual PSA Conference at Manchester in April 2009.
My initial thoughts on French regulation theory and Foucauldian
ideas of govemmentaUty, which are developed In Chapter 6, were pre
sented at a Workshop on the Financial Crisis at Cardiff University in
May 2009. Christopher Norris, Colin Wight, and Hugh Willmott made
helpful comments on the paper and approach employed. An earlier
version was co-written with Steven Griggs and was applied to the prob
lem of 'sustainable aviation', whilst a later version was presented to
-
--- .. __
- - . ._ ...
Preface C/1/(( Ack11owh·d:o:ements ix
graduate students at johns Hopkins University in the spring of 2010,
where I taught a course on Rethinking State-Capitalism wilh William
Connolly. It goes without saying that the course and its participants
proved highly stimulating and helpful to me in preparing this new
draft of the paper. A more final and lengthy version was presented
at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association
Conference in Washington in September 2010. I would like to thank
jane Bennett, jaints Grove, Steven Griggs, and Aletta Norval for their
thoughts and comments on the paper. Some of the ideas and thoughts
for my engagement with the politics of identity/difference, which con
stitutes Chapter 7 of the book, were first presented as a keynote address
entitled 'Identity, Identification, and Political Subjectivity'. The paper
was originally delivered at the Identities under Construction Con
ference in October 2008 at the University of Liege. Nico Carpentier
and Erik Spinoy were wonderful hosts and offered helpful comments
and thoughts about the paper. Some of the thoughts on the rela
tionship between identities and interests were first aired in an article
(co-authored with Steven Griggs), which was published in Mobiliza
tion in 2002. Other parts of this chapter, especially those dealing with
the intertwining of interests, identities and ideas, were presented at
a Workshop on 'The Role of Ideas in Welfare State Change: Critical
ReaJist Analysis versus Poststructuralist and Interpretative Approaches'
at Leiden University in November 2012. I would like to thank Anja
Eleveld for convening this workshop and for raising many interesting
questions, both in her Doctoral Thesis and in the seminar discus
sions. Of course, the final responsibility for the arguments and claims
developed in this book are mine, as are the remaining difficulties and
tensions.
Throughout this period, I have benefitted immensely from my inter-
actions with the students enrolled on the Doctoral Programme in
Ideology and Discourse Analysis in the Department of Government at
the University of Essex; many of the ideas put forward in the book were
first presented and discussed in the doctoral seminars convened by this
programme. Their comments and criticisms have always spurred me to
try and clarify my thoughts and arguments. I would also like to thank
the participants who attended the Introduction to Discourse Theory and
Applying Discourse Theory courses at the Essex Summer School, which
I have In the past co-taught with jason Glynos and Aletta Norval Peter
Josse has done a splendid job in helping me to edit the final text and
compile the final bibliography. I would like to thank the production
team at Palgrave Macmillan for their patience and support in getting my
uuwu' rlpt Into print. My thanks also to Cherllnc Oanl~l nllll lwr H·n1n
tor thl•ir help and attention In copy-editing my manu,crlpt .u1d J>r(·par
lng the Index. My final and most heartfelt lhanks are to J\ktiJ Norval
and J;unl's llowarth for putting up with the 'trials and trlbui,Jtioll~· lht~l
have often accompanied the production of this book.
----=---...,_
£a ..... -L --
Introduction
Since the 1960s, poststructuralists in various fields have interrogated a
host of social, cultural, and political phenomena in different domains,
whilst seeking to provide critical explanations of the various puzzles
j
that often arise from these problematizations. Perhaps it is a bit too far
fetched to claim that 'We're all poststructuraHsts now!', thus echoing the
I
once common refrain about the pervasive influence of Marxist theory
in shaping our view of society, even though its assumptions about the I
determining role of the economy in social life, or the reduction of social I
Identities to class structures and relationships, were not universally
accepted. Yet I do think it is true to say that many of the problems that
j
are addressed by poststructuralists, as well as the various answers they
advance, continue to make a significant contribution to our understand
I
ing of social phenomena. What is more, poststructuralists also provide
Important conceptual resources for other more mainstream traditions
of sodal and political theory in their efforts to elucidate the social
world, and they caution against problematic or essentialist paradigms.
This is certainly the view of Francois Dosse, the leading historian of the
structuralist and poststructuralist movements, who argues that despite
'the dead ends' into which these approaches have run on occasion, they
have 'changed the way we consider human society so much that it is no
longer even possible to think without taking the structuralist revolution
into account' (Dosse, 1997, p. xxiii).
More predsely, poststructuralists have inquired into the construc
tion, form, and role of different social and political identities in various
j
contexts, whether these Identities are of a class, ethnic, gender, racial,
national, or sexual character. They have also investigated the natwe •
I
of human subjectivity and its connection to the politics of identity t
or difference, and they have sought to conceptualize the relationships
~
~tween structure, agency, and power. At the same time, they have led '