SUBJECTOLOGY: Sociology of Social Subjects

Who-or what-really shapes history? For centuries, modern thought has described the world as a system-structures, laws, and impersonal forces organizing social life. But what if this perspective misses the most decisive element? Subjectology: Sociology of Social Subjects offers a bold and original answer: history is not driven by systems alone, but by subjects. Individuals, societies, nations, and civilizations are not passive components of a structure. They are subjects that act, decide, remember, and transform reality. From Thomas Hobbes to contemporary debates on artificial intelligence, Agustín Galán Machío develops a new framework for understanding how social subjects emerge, acquire identity, and exercise agency across time. Bridging classical political theory and modern sociology, this book revisits key thinkers-from Niccolò Machiavelli and Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Max Weber, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas-to propose a general theory of the subject in social and political life. At a time when algorithms increasingly mediate knowledge, perception, and decision-making, the question becomes urgent: Who is acting now? Humans, systems, or something in between? Subjectology confronts this question head-on. It challenges structural determinism, redefines agency, and provides a new lens through which to understand power, identity, and collective action in the 21st century. A groundbreaking work at the intersection of sociology, political theory, and the philosophy of artificial intelligence-essential reading for anyone seeking to understand who truly acts in history.