Thiem, Annika. Unbecoming Subjects: Judith Butler, Moral Philosophy and Critical Responsibility. New York: Fordham UP, 2008.
This kind of Foucaultian assujetissement is not merely a subjection in the sense of domination; it is not merely an exertion of power on a preexisting body that shapes the substance that has existence outside and prior to the workings of power and social norms. There is no “raw” body or materiality prior to and outside of power; power itself, in return, is for Foucault not an immaterial form but exists and works in the form of political and social practices and institutions. Assujetissement thus is a bringing of the bodily subject into existence, since “there is no body outside of power, for the materiality of the body —indeed, materiality itself— is produced by and in direct relation to the investment of power” (Butler Psychic 91)