Dr. Karsten Schubert

CV

Dr. Karsten Schubert is Lecturer in Political Theory and Philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg. His work focuses on contemporary critical political theory and social philosophy: Radical democracy, legal critique, Michel Foucault, biopolitics, queer and gay theory, and intersectionality. Currently, he researches at the intersection of radical democratic thought and identity politics. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Leipzig. His first book "Freedom as Critique. Social Philosophy after Foucault" (2018, in German) was published with transcript. Texts, videos, and current information at www.karstenschubert.net

Selected Publications

• Schubert, Karsten (2018): Freiheit als Kritik. Sozialphilosophie nach Foucault [Freedom as Critique. Social Philosophy After Foucault]. Bielefeld: transcript.

• Schubert, Karsten (2021): Freedom as critique. Foucault beyond anarchism. In: Philosophy & Social Criticism 47 (5), 634–660. https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453720917733

• Schubert, Karsten; Schwiertz, Helge (2021): Konstruktivistische Identitätspolitik. Warum Demokratie partikulare Positionierung erfordert [Constructivist identity politics. Why democracy requires particular positioning]. In: Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 31 (4), 565–593. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41358-021-00291-2

• Schubert, Karsten (2020): »Political Correctness« als Sklavenmoral? Zur politischen Theorie der Privilegienkritik [Political Correctness" as slave morality? On the political theory of the critique of privilege]. In: Leviathan 48 (1), 29–51. https://doi.org/10.5771/0340-0425-2020-1-29

• Schubert, Karsten (2022): New Era of Queer Politics? PrEP, Foucauldian Sexual Liberation, and the Overcoming of Homonormativity. In: Body Politics 8 (12/2020), 214–261. http://bodypolitics.de/de/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/BodyPolitics-8-2020-12_Schubert-10.pdf

FRIAS research project

A Matter of Elites? Identity Politics Between Democratic Representation and Elite Capture

Identity Politics is key for correcting skewed representation in liberal democracies. However, identity politics risks producing skewed representation itself through elite capture, the taking of identity politics by elites. In this project, I employ radical democratic and constructivist representation theory to differentiate problematic elite capture from democratic representation. I aim to show that identities and preferences of constituencies are not given before representation but constituted through representation, which is why it is impossible to uphold a difference between elite manipulation and true interests. The normative standard for good representation is the empowerment of the constituency's reflexivity about its own identity. Visible and influential representatives are not a problem of elite capture, while problematic elite capture occurs when privileged subgroups dominate identity political projects, such as White bourgeois women in second-wave feminism. Identity political representation is skewed towards elite capture if it is not intersectional and can be called democratic if they effectively counteract their own representational distortions.