In this paper we explore the relation between agency and the (pathological) inclinations that lurk beneath the agent’s acts. We draw on the work of Jacques Lacan to argue that an adequate understanding of agency demands attentiveness to desires, the unconscious and the intimate relation between the subject and the Other. Based on some of the key features of the Lacanian subject we suggest agency to be (1) symbolic, (2) imaginary, or (3) ethical. This typology of agency, we argue, has far-reaching implications for social analysis in which we include the project of critical management studies
