This paper maps the ontological function of affect and performativity as
articulated in the School of Essex’s discourse theory, most notably in Ernesto
Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s writings. Firstly, it will be demonstrated that
isolated agency of ideological performativity, does not involve sufficient
power to introduce a coherent ontological consistency of both subject and
object. Only the intertwine of libidinal force with naming, as the recent
development of the School of Essex theory suggests, provides the sufficient
conditions of the possibility of generating solid social ontology.
