Virtù e limiti della politica del performativo

This article offers a critical analysis of the idea of performative politics, as conceived in particular by Judith Butler. After a brief overview of the notions of performative and performance, with particular reference to linguistic pragmatics, performance art, postmodern aesthetic reflection and the philosophy of Michel Foucault, the article explores some of the issues surrounding Butler's concept of the performative, applied not only to gender but also to a possible model of progressive and democratic politics. The text then focuses on the idea of the body (and the mind-body relationship) that this concept presupposes and on the possible limits of Butler's political proposal itself, highlighting how it may be more fruitful to relate the problems posed by Butler to the analyses of radical feminism, on the one hand, and Marxist feminism of social reproduction, on the other.