Abstract
There is no such thing as a truly virtual reality.
We who dwell in post-industrial societies live in a world that is not only technologically-driven, but also lucratively and unjustly so. The global economy manifests itself through a number of both global and local events, that is to say it operates through ‘G-local’ power effects. I would describe these as the simultaneity of opposite social effects, resulting in extreme polarization in terms of access to the benefits of the technological revolution between the haves and the have nots. The flow of capital undeterred by topological constraints simultaneously de-materializes social realities and hardens their structural injustices. Advanced technologies are central to the shifts in power relations that mark the era of globalization. They are heavily material constructions and their ‘virtuality’ is densely embedded and embodied.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Appadurai, Arjun (1994) ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.’ In P. Williams and L. Chrisman, Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory. New York: Columbia University Press, 324–39.
Becker, Egon and Johan, Thomas (eds.) (1999a) Sustainability and the Social Sciences. A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Integrating Environmental Considerations into Theoretical Reorientation. London: Zed Books and UNESCO.
De Beauvoir, Simone (1949) Le deuxième sexe. Paris: Gallimard.
Braidotti, Rosi (2002) Metamorphoses. Toward a Materialistic Theory of Becoming. Cambridge, Polity Press.
Bryld, Mette and Lykke, Nina (1999) Cosmodolphins. Feminist Cultural Studies of Technology, Animals and the Sacred. London: Zed Books.
Castells, Manuel (1996) The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford, Blackwell.
Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari (1980) Mille Plateaux. Capitalism et Schizophrénie II. Paris: Minuit.
English translation: (1987b) A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizo-phrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Translated by Brian Massumi. Eisenstein, Zillah (1998) Global Obscenities. Patriarchy, Capitalism and the Lure of Cyberfantasy. New York: New York University Press.
Franklin, Sarah, Celia Lury, Jackie Stacey (2000) Global Nature, Global Culture. London: Sage.
Grewal, Inderpal, and Caren Kaplan (eds.) (1994) Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Lloyd, Genevieve (1985) The Man of Reason. London: Methuen.
Sassen, Saskia (1994) Cities in a World Economy. Thousand Oaks and London: Pine Forge Press/Sage.
Sassen, Saskia (1996) ‘Toward a Feminist Analytics of the Global Economy.’ Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, 7–41.
Haraway, Donna (1996) Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan©_Meets_ OncoMouse. London and New York: Routledge.
Irigaray, Luce (1974) Spéculum de l’autre femme. Paris: Minuit.
Shiva, Vandana (1997) Biopiracy. The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge. Boston: South End Press.
Wilson, Elizabeth A. (1998) Neural Geographies. Feminism and the Microstructure of Cognition. New York 0026 London: Routledge.
Woolf, Virginia (1977) The Waves. London: Grafton Books.
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Leske + Budrich, Opladen
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Braidotti, R. (2003). The Material Foundation of Virtual Subjectivity. In: Kreutzner, G., Schelhowe, H. (eds) Agents of Change. Schriftenreihe der Internationalen Frauenuniversität »Technik und Kultur«, vol 9. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-91354-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-91354-8_5
Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-8100-3492-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-322-91354-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive