Eventful Subjectivity: The Experiential Sources of Solidarity

Abstract

Scholarship on events has been devoted primarily to large-scale occurrences that transform macro structures. Here we put forward a perspective that we term eventful subjectivity which moves the analysis of events in two related directions. First, we shift the arena of eventful analysis from rare world historical occurrences to smaller, more frequent events. Second, we direct attention away from macro-structural outcomes to micro-level changes in understanding. We employ the framework of eventful subjectivity to examine a living wage campaign in Chicago, demonstrating how the multi-faceted diversity of the campaign-in the context of collective action-engendered solidarity rather than fragmentation.