Interpellation (philosophy)

The word interpellation (in English) is used in three senses. It has been adopted from French and may remain indebted to its original, which also has a fourth sense.

In Neo-Marxist thought

Interpellation is a concept of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser to describe the process by which ideology addresses the (abstract) pre-ideological individual thus effectively producing him or her as subject proper. Henceforth, Althusser goes against the classical definition of the subject as cause and substance: in other words, the situation always precedes the (individual or collective) subject, which precisely as subject is "always-already interpellated." Althusser's argument here strongly draws from Jacques Lacan's concept of the Mirror stage. Althusser's concept has been roundly confused over the last decades with concepts and thinking associated with Michel Foucault, in part because both thinkers manifest an antihumanist insistence on the secondary status of the subject as mere effect of social relations and not vice versa. Another source of this confusion, as elaborated in an article by Keith Sawyer (2002) is the shared use of the word but different concepts of discourse. Interpellation, Althusser's idea based on Lacan, specifically involves the moment and process of recognition of interaction with the ideology at hand. Foucault eschews the notion of ideology and his structuralist analytics are quite antithetical to Lacanian notions of Real, Symbolic, Imaginary.

Sawyer, R. Keith. 2002. A Discourse on Discourse: An Archaeological History of an Intellectual Concept. Cultural Studies, vol. 16 (3): 433-456.

Interpellation in the context of social science

In the context of Social Science to be Interpellated is to identify with a particular idea or identity. For example, if someone were to shout your name at you in the street, you would recognize that salutation to mean yourself. It is basically thinking 'that means me'. It is the process by which you recognise yourself to belong to a particular identity.

Interpellation as a right of a parliament

The word Interpellation is also used to refer to the formal right of a parliament to submit formal questions to the government. In many parliaments, each individual member of parliament has the right to formally submit questions (possibly a limited amount during a certain period of time) to a member of government. The respective minister or secretary is then required to respond and to justify government policy. Interpellation thus allows the parliament to supervise the government's activity. In this sense, it is closer to a motion of censure. In English, the parliamentary questioning sense of 'interpellation' dates from the late 19th century. It has been adopted from French constitutional discourse.

See also: Prime Minister's Questions and Question time

Interpellation (French) as 'holding for questioning'

The English word 'interpellation' is adopted from French, interpellation. The French word refers, in constitutional discourse, to the above right of a parliament. In everyday and common legal usage, however, it refers to 'holding (or detaining) for questioning' - by the police or a similar authority. This would probably be the primary association for a French reader of Lacan or Althusser.

References

• Louis Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation) (1969) published in English in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (1971), available online here
• Serge Guinchard and Gabriel Montagnier, Lexique des termes juridiques (Dalloz, 17th edn 2010), 'Interpellation'.