POSTMODERN SUBJECT AND POLITICAL ACTION

Article

Abstract

[In English]

Since the downfall of the idea of a unitary subject, discussions of what a postmodern subject is have taken many different turns. However, most of them agree on one particular trait of postmodern subject – it has become the site of an «uncontrollable adventure» (Lefort 1986). All we can safely say about the postmodern subject is paradoxically that we can hardly be certain about what a postmodern subject is (or appears to be). At the same time a subject that is considered nowadays to be heterogeneous, decentered, and detotalized² has serious implications on both social and political domains. I argue that in a ‘radically new epoch, characterized by drift, dissemination, and by the uncontrollable play of significations’ the characteristics that postmodern subject is usually credited has become the scenario for a new mode of political action. The two politically driven groups – that of Femen and Pussy Riot – appear to be highly symptomatic and can function as an empirical example of the case.