Disconnected/connected

Abstract

Informed by nonparticipant observations of public cell phone use, we offer a Lacanian theorization of common social scenes involving mobile communication technologies. Identifying paradoxes of the mobile mediascape, such as connected versus disconnected and public versus private, we turn to Lacan's distinction between the look and the gaze to read and reconcile these tensions. Moving beyond understanding cell phones as fetish objects, we use Lacan's theory of the gaze as a means to understand the existential dilemma, a lack of being, which underwrites the pleasures of consumption. At the heart of the matter is how cell phones mobilize users' desires and anxieties as social subjects in a mediatized consumptionscape.

Commentary on “Look up! Five research proposals for rethinking marketing in a post-growth society”: Contribution of lacanian discourse to a more responsible marketing

“…11. See, for example, the analyses of Reyes et al (2015) on the mobile phone as a substitute for the gaze object. 12. https://www.affiches.fr/infos/economie/photowebtire-sur-le-vert/…”

“…According to Jacques Lacan, discourse is what creates “social bond.” As early as 1972, Lacan criticized the contemporary discourse of the “economy of jouissance” (Cathelineau, 2019), which places the subject – and therefore the consumer – in a situation of unlimited jouissance of everyday consumer goods: “it works like clockwork, it couldn’t work better, but precisely it works too fast, it consumes, it consumes so well that it’s consuming itself” (Lacan, 1972: 10). While psychoanalysis has had an influence in different research fields, such as anthropology and psychology, its theories and contributions have been little applied in marketing (Reyes et al, 2015), even though consumer choices and behaviors are influenced by non-cognitive factors, including unconscious ones (Dichter, 1960).…”

“… 11. See, for example, the analyses of Reyes et al (2015) on the mobile phone as a substitute for the gaze object. …”

Commentaire sur « Look up ! Cinq propositions de recherche pour repenser le marketing dans une société post-croissance » : contribution du Discours lacanien à un marketing plus responsable

“…Dès 1972, Lacan critiquait le discours contemporain de « l’économie de la jouissance » (Cathelineau, 2019), qui place le sujet – et donc le consommateur – en situation de jouir sans limite des objets de consommation courante : « ça marche comme sur des roulettes, ça ne peut pas marcher mieux, mais justement ça marche trop vite, ça se consomme, ça se consomme si bien que ça se consume » (Lacan, 1972 : 10). Si la psychanalyse a eu une influence dans différents champs de recherche, comme l’anthropologie et la psychologie, ses théories et ses apports ont été peu exploités en marketing (Reyes et al, 2015), alors que les choix et les comportements des consommateurs sont influencés par des facteurs non-cognitifs, notamment inconscients (Dichter, 1960).…”

“… 11. Voir par exemple les analyses de Reyes et al (2015) sur le téléphone portable comme substitut de l’objet petit a regard. …”