This paper presents a theoretical analysis of transgression in Georges Bataille, seeing it as a key moment in the production and reproduction of society and its subjects. Based on authors from different theoretical traditions, it reconstructs fundamental axioms that explain why ritual transgression maintains and reproduces the social order, functioning as an escape valve for social energy. The final section distinguishes the ideas of transgression as a questioning of the political and as a horizon for the production of subjectivity. © 2022, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales.