Society emerges unconsciously behind the backs of those forced into proximity.
Evidence
It would be possible for this encounter not to last if the constancy of external constraints did not maintain it in a constant state in the face of the temptation of dispersion, did not literally impose its law of proximity without asking men for their opinion; their society thus emerges behind their backs, so to speak, and their history emerges as the dorsal, unconscious constitution of this society. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 452
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEEPTHINKING: Althusser’s ‘dorsal, unconscious constitution of society’ is a genuinely dense formulation about how social order forms not through will but through forced proximity working behind conscious intention.