All social life is framed so no action belongs absolutely to its agent.

Evidence

It may be objected that professional actors disempower themselves voluntarily and temporarily, in the context of framed performances—that in “real life” we can and do represent ourselves. But one answer to this is that many, if not all, activities in social life are framed. The professional actor’s concern to perfect a role on the stage is of a piece with the teaching and learning of rhetorical skills (speech, gesture, attitude, behavior) by agents in other domains where their actions are not absolutely “their own.” In modern, secular society these sites include law courts and political arenas, domains in which the self must be disavowed (whether sincerely or not) in the act of representing a client or “the law,” a constituency or “an interest group”—domains in which state laws disempower as well as enable the active citizen. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 374

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the secular-liberal assumption that modern citizens act autonomously outside ritual frames — a premise Cooper’s conservative-religious account also destabilizes from another angle.
• SEED: Counterintuitive bridge: secular citizenship modes (law, politics) require the same self-disavowal and rhetorical framing that religion does — undermines the religious/secular boundary in a fresh domain.