It is dictated by as much our culture, as well as the things that happen to us. Subjectivity both relates not only to the subjects that we see, but also us, as subjects, and is mostly a product of the culture and society that created us.
The two main schools of though for how our subjectivity is thought about and perceived to work, comes from both the early 20th century Psychoanalysts, as well as the mid 20th century Social philosophers.
Sigmund Freud argued that, our ultimate understanding on subjectivity hinged on our understanding of out subconscious, that our subconscious dictates our needs and desires, and is only satisfied when it is relieved of these things.
In this way, it is perceived that anything that are subconscious deems as not meeting these requires is viewed unfavourably, whilst everything else, it.
With these revelations at the turn of the century, a new wave of futurist content swept across the western world, highlighting a possible link between cultural enrichment and scientific understanding.
The other school of thought, by people such as Michelle Foucault, believed that we become subjects of the institutions that we are subjected to, as well as the ones we subject ourselves to. These schools of belief saw knowledge and truths as more constructs that were built up to help strengthen the ideas already present in society.
He argued that, hysteria and other such 'illness' didn't exist, until psychoanalysts like Freud defined them.
Foucault thought that history was a much more organic and interpretive exercise, and that motivation and feelings are just as important, if not more so, than the facts themselves, believing that even failures and mistakes in history are a way to see as a result of a problem someone faced at the time.
These thoughts and practices are still carried on with modern day practitioners today, like Sarah Lucas, that believe a refusal to accept the lessons and histories of old prevents people who are negatively subjectified by them to resist conforming to their expectations, leading to much more enlightened and positive change in the world.
