From subject to politics: The Zizekian field today

This article aims to outline the contours of a Zizekian field of critical enquiry where Zizek's own propositions are taken seriously through the unravelling of their least explicit consequences. We begin by looking at Zizek's notions of subjectivity and subjectivation in relation to Lacan's theory of desire and Hegel's theory of the subject. In the first part we delineate the impact that Zizek's two main theoretical sources have had on his formulation of subjectivity, focusing specifically on the question of negativity. From there, we discuss the political strategies that Zizek's conceptualisation of subjectivity might inspire, particularly in connection with his recent take on subtraction ('Bartleby politics'). Does Zizek's theory of the subject allow us to imagine and put to work the transformative capacity of the subject, in turn triggering the transformative potential of the social? Finally, we propose a reading of the current economic crisis through the category of subtraction that demonstrates the political relevance and topicality of Zizek's approach.