Cuando el sujeto político se cansa y el hombre común goza

Abstract

Have “post-neoliberal democracies” been able to dismantle that citizen subjectivity that still feels and wishes in accordance to the neoliberal approach? With that question as starting point, this essay questions the concepts of political subject and “popular” democracy. It also claims back some critical Latin American thought with the following fundamental hypothesis: emancipation entails a dismantling of the citizens’ desires, passions and emotions that physically support and reproduce domination. Therefore, the theoretical and political challenge is to get rid of the hierarchical ways of feeling —sacrificial, racist and patriarchal— nested in the social realm of the “common man” and the self-proclaimed “political subjects”.