The Politics of Psychoanalysis

Paper Summary:

This paper critiques psychoanalysis with particular emphasis on its role in the political economy of our time. It argues that psychoanalysis fosters an authoritarian perspective between the analyst and the subject/patient who is defined as a non-agent. This paper suggests that this denial of agency within psychoanalysis has direct analogies to the denial of agency in our socio-political structures.

From the Paper:

"This view has clear and present analogies for technology and the practice of cyborgology in our modern world. Consider, for example, who controls the Internet. Is it the state, or the people? No, it is the large corporations who not only own, but administer and define the Internet. The Japanese have been allowed into the Euro-American club of technology, while the Chinese have been granted permission to build the technology and the Indians to program and serve as offshore support systems for the technology. Nonetheless, the club remains almost exclusively Euro-American, as does the Internet itself."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chodorow, Nancy. "Gender, Relation, and Difference in Psychoanalytic Perspective." In Course Reader: Psychology and Politics. Ed. Shannon Bell. Toronto: York University, 2007.
• Deleuze, Gilles, and Guattari, Felix. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983.
• Fanon, Frantz. "Colonial War and Mental Disorders." In Course Reader: Psychology and Politics. Ed. Shannon Bell. Toronto: York University, 2007.
• Lacan, Jacques. "The Meaning of the Phallus." In Course Reader: Psychology and Politics. Ed. Shannon Bell. Toronto: York University, 2007.
• Laing, R.D. "The Schizophrenic Experience." In Course Reader: Psychology and Politics. Ed. Shannon Bell. Toronto: York University, 2007.

More papers on The Politics of Psychoanalysis:

• Term Paper # 132689 : "The Politics of Psychoanalysis"
• Research Paper # 75315 : "Television and Politics"
• Analytical Essay # 47313 : "Twelfth Night": A Comedy of Incest"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: