What kinds of subjectivity—that is, subjugation to forces of power—derive from technologically networked societies in a globally interconnected economy? And what range of freedom or agency is possible under these circumstances? Although these crucial questions of the day can be posed in direct enough terms, answers to them have been complex, conflicting, and at times perhaps incomprehensible. Many of them ignore the apocalyptic element so often incorporated in the way forces of technology and globalization are perceived. Ranging from Samuel Huntington's alarmist ‘clash of civilization’ thesis to President Bush's pounding insistence that the United States should lead the fight against the ‘axis of evil’, when the forces of technology and globalization are cast into the mold of apocalyptic drama, they generate man-made danger.

In this essay, I offer a theorization that illuminates these fraught issues of subjectivity and agency in our time and also accentuates the danger of existing apocalyptic belief systems in this regard. I propose a typology of three key forms of subjectivity in the present day: atavists, avatars, and netizens. In the discussion that follows, I outline several leading studies on these issues, in part because my typology is indebted to them but also because I believe my approach better enables criticism of the patriarchal, apocalyptic and/or millennial forces that shape and regulate many features of today's everyday life, especially those involving gender and sexuality.