Interiorization and internalization as repressive practices of the subject formation

Abstract

The article examines the problem of the subject power formation through the prism of structuralist methodology. The subjection concept is used to denote the process of subjectness repressive articulation. Subjection is defined as the discursive act of implanting power into a person and the transformation of this external power into internal subjectness and individual subjective features. Two forms of subjection are distinguished: Interiorization and internalization. We made a theoretical analysis to identify the essential differences of these forms in this article. It has been established that interiorization is a rational process of subject formation through awareness, assimilation and reproduction of the external influence of social structures, and internalization is an unconscious process of subject formation through unconditional acceptance, assimilation and reproduction of the external influence of social structures. It is noted that, being independent mental processes, interiorization and internalization may not be repressive forms of subjection, but only represent the most general mechanism for the formation of internal structures of the psyche. We can talk about them as subjective processes only when the result of the subject’s activity is already in the language or social practice. Thus, the article confirms the paradox of reference in the issue of subjectness formation: The subject does not exist before the fact of its subjection, but is the result of power formation.