Abstract

PINTO, Renata de Almeida Bicalho  and  PAULA, Ana Paula Paes de. Symbolic Violence and Subjectivity: A Reading from the Adornian Critical Theory. Rev. Subj. [online]. 2022, vol.22, n.2, e7884.  Epub Dec 05, 2025. ISSN 2359-0769.  https://doi.org/10.5020/23590777.rs.v22i2.e7884.

The objective of this theoretical essay is to discuss the concept of symbolic violence proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and, based on his criticism, to establish a new proposal in the light of Adorno's critical theory, which improves it, insofar as it apprehends in a more specific way the subjectivity. For Bourdieu, symbolic violence is invisible violence, exercised by symbolic means of communication and knowledge, which is established in a relationship of subjugation-submission and which results from domination, of which the dominated is an accomplice. Seeing some gaps in Bourdieu's concept, we set up an expanded conceptualization based on Adorno's thinking, emphasizing subjectivity and designating through which processes symbolic violence is established. By symbolic violence, we understand that the enlistment of the subject in a reality that constrains him, in summary, even if subtly and imperceptibly, to fit into certain predispositions, perceived as social conditions, occurs through the degeneration of his subjectivity through the projection, identification, and individuality.

Keywords : critical theory; Frankfurt school; symbolic violence; subjectivity.

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