The Tension of Expressiveness: Reading Adorno on Behalf of the Subject

Publication Date

4-1-2004

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Arts in Communication

Department

Communication

Supervisory Committee Chair

Ed McLuskie

Supervisory Committee Member

David Sholle

Supervisory Committee Member

Renu Dube

Abstract

The paradigm shift from subjectivity to intersubjectivity, associated with the linguistic and communicative turns of the twentieth century (Morris, 2001), has been the source of a number of fascinating debates in social theory. A universalizing impulse is at the center of these debates, where intersubjectivity is a theorizing frame that submerges the subject in shared meanings. Despite these universalizing impulses, the subject remains irreducible, always at the bottom of the intersubjective. This thesis advocates the preservation and reclamation of the subject as central to theorizing "communication" in an intersubjective world. To this end, Theodor Adorno is an important theorist.

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