Yes, there is a growing body of contemporary work—spanning philosophy, psychoanalysis, and political theory—that, like Michael J. Thompson’s Twilight of the Self (2022), explores the crisis or transformation of the self in the poststructuralist or late-capitalist context. Here’s a curated list of notable titles, each sharing concerns with the fragmentation, reification, or potential reconstitution of the self:
🧠 Contemporary Works on the Self in the Poststructuralist Age
1.
Judith Butler – The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection (1997)
- A foundational text arguing that the self is not pre-political, but constituted through subjection to social norms.
- Draws on Foucault, Althusser, and psychoanalysis.
- The subject is not autonomous but formed through power’s interpellation—yet retains capacity for resistance.
2.
Alenka Zupančič – What is Sex? (2017)
- Via Lacan and Žižek, explores how sexual difference and the Real fracture any coherent or stable self.
- Late capitalism commodifies desire, but psychoanalysis exposes the constitutive lack that escapes market capture.
3.
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (2010, trans. 2015)
- Argues that neoliberalism produces a tired, atomized, self-optimizing subject, suffering from burnout and depression rather than repression.
- The self becomes its own exploiter: “achievement-subjects” enslaved by freedom.
- Han draws heavily from Foucault’s biopolitics and post-Heideggerian themes.
4.
Eva Illouz – Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism (2007)
- The emotional life is shaped and colonized by late-capitalist rationalities.
- The self becomes both a consumer and entrepreneur of emotions.
- Poststructuralist echoes in the decentering of authenticity and the historical construction of interiority.
5.
Mari Ruti – The Singularity of Being: Lacan and the Immortal Within (2012)
- A poststructuralist reading of the self as fractured, but capable of ethical and existential singularity.
- Builds on Lacanian psychoanalysis, ethics of the Real, and critiques late-capitalist banality.
6.
Lauren Berlant – Cruel Optimism (2011)
- Analyzes how the late-capitalist subject clings to fantasies of the good life that actually obstruct flourishing.
- The self is shaped by affective structures that bind it to unattainable ideals (job security, upward mobility, etc.).
7.
Todd McGowan – Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets (2016)
- Uses Lacanian theory to argue that capitalism functions by manipulating desire, not repressing it.
- The self is trapped in a loop of “enjoyment,” always promised but never fulfilled.
🌀 Meta-Theoretical or Philosophical Reappraisals
8.
Ian Parker – Revolution in Psychology: From Alienation to Emancipation (2007)
- Bridges poststructuralist, Marxist, and critical psychology traditions.
- The self is a site of political struggle, not a natural unit.
9.
Simone Drichel (Ed.) – The Postcolonial Self: Theory and Practice (2014)
- Combines poststructuralist and postcolonial insights.
- Emphasizes how the self is fractured by historical trauma, colonial violence, and identity politics.
10.
Catherine Malabou – The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain Damage (2007/2012)
- Questions traditional psychoanalytic models of the self in light of neuroscience and trauma.
- Explores how plasticity, both psychic and neurological, shapes subjectivity in the 21st century.
🧾 Bonus: Michael Thompson’s Neighbors in Critical Theory
- Axel Honneth – The Struggle for Recognition (1996)
- Less poststructuralist, but critiques how social pathologies deform self-realization.
- Rahel Jaeggi – Alienation (2014)
- A return to the Hegelian-Marxist notion of alienation, adapted for the postmodern self.
- Nancy Fraser – Fortunes of Feminism (2013)
- Tracks the neoliberal co-optation of the feminist self, once seen as emancipatory.
🧩 Summary of Threads
|
Theme |
How the Self Is Seen |
|
Poststructuralism |
Always already fractured, interpellated, relational, decentred. |
|
Neoliberal Capitalism |
Colonizes desire, commodifies affect, atomizes community. |
|
Psychoanalysis (esp. Lacanian) |
Self is a function of lack, structured by language, resisting closure. |
|
Critical Political Theory |
Self as normative battleground - contested, wounded, but not doomed. |
Would you like a visual map or constellation of these thinkers? Or a comparative table that links them with themes like “autonomy,” “alienation,” “desire,” “power,” and “resistance”?
