Vulnerability: Floating Signifiers and Transcending Polarities

A growing body of (primarily feminist) scholarship frames ‘vulnerability’ as an inescapably constitutive feature of human existence: an ontology of the body, which shapes our somatic, affective, and emotional experiences (Butler 2016; Cole 2016; Fineman 2008; Gilson 2011). Within this work, vulnerability provides a lynchpin concept through which to rearticulate key themes in feminist theory (e.g. embodiment, relationality and positionality), offering a new lexicon with which to critically evaluate injustice (Cole 2016). These theories of vulnerability provide valuable counterpoints to neoliberal thought, galvanising calls for a politics of shared, rather than personal, responsibility. With that said, many have expressed scepticism regarding the progressive potential of the concept of vulnerability when translated into concrete political contexts (Brown 2014; Brown and Wincup 2019; Carline 2012; Munro and Scoular 2012). Evidence to support such scepticism is readily available.