Insisting on not being addressed in that way: Ideology, subjection and agency in the context of spatial planning

Abstract

As planning systems in many countries have faced growing pressure over recent years, this has turned the spotlight on ethical aspects of planning, in particular the roles and identities of planners. Here the notions of ideology and subjection have served as important theoretical resources. However, these lines of thought have rarely been integrated, meaning that most studies on ideology have remained at a macro level of analysis. In response to this lacuna, the present paper uses Althusser’s concept of ideology and Butler’s concept of recognition to examine how planners perceive the scope and limits of their actions. From an ideology- and subjection-theoretical perspective, we analyse excerpts from narrative interviews conducted as part of a research project on the subjection of regional planners in Germany. Specifically, we focus on calls for public participation, using these as a basis to discuss planners’ scope of action and to identify three forms of “insisting on not being addressed in that way” (Judith Butler) at the micro level. They illustrate that interpellation and subjection are not linear, straightforward phenomena, but offer many possibilities for misrecognition or subtle forms of counter-action that could be explored more fully in future empirical research.