On the ‘inoperative community’ and social authority: a Nancean response to the politics of loss

This article addresses how the work of the French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy might inform our understanding of ‘social authority’; an authority generated in everyday practices. It argues that the ‘governmentality’ approach, while drawing out the forms of power that fill the sphere of community-oriented politics, does not recognise the important role played by the loss of community. The article thus sets out how Nancy’s work, in re-framing this ‘loss’ as the constantly occurring fragmentation of the community, allows for a productive and augmentative approach to authority, highlighting its contingent production in moments of creativity and contestation. A final section sets out how, in light of these considerations, such a ‘social authority’ may be seen as essential to a democratic politics.