Taking a stand: Using psychoanalysis to explore the positioning of subjects in discourse

Abstract

This paper is concerned with thinking through the cultural construction of personal identities whilst avoiding the classical social‐individual division. Our starting point is the notion that there is no such thing as ‘the individual’, standing outside the social; however, there is an arena of personal subjectivity, even though this does not exist other than as already inscribed in the sociocultural domain. Our argument is that there are psychoanalytic concepts which can be helpful in exploring this ‘inscription’ and thus in explaining the trajectory of individual subjects; that is, their specific positioning in discourse. The argument is illustrated by data from a qualitative study of young masculinities, exploring the ways in which some individual boys take up positions in various degrees of opposition to the dominant ideology of ‘hegemonic’ masculinity.

Expressing yourself: A feminist analysis of talk around expressing breast milk

“…As constructed by the participants in the present study, expressing breast milk appears to be largely a way of aligning subjectivity with culturally hegemonic ideologies of motherhood. In line with poststructuralist theorising this analysis reinforces the view that discourses and practices are not limitless and that processes of power restrict the possibilities open to women to construct themselves, as more dominant understandings of gender tend to subvert less powerful ones (Wetherell, 1995;Frosh, Phoenix & Pattman, 2003).…”

On the possibility of critiquing Israel:The Times’ engagement with Israel’s deployment of white phosphorous during the first Gaza war

“…But it is not the mere intensity of these investments that is of exclusive interest for us. Rather, it is the qualities they exhibit that make them intensive and that make them sustain their intensity (cf., Frosh et al, 2003).…”

Bridging the contradictions of social constructionism and psychoanalysis in a study of workplace emotions in India

“…Childhood is seen by psychoanalytic theorists as a period when unconscious patterns of relating with significant others form, which in turn influence expectations of adult relationships (Frosh et al, 2003;Freud, A., 1966;Kakar, 2008). The term 'transference' (Czander, 1993) refers to the process in which people transfer onto others emotional expectations that arose in earlier interactions with a significant caregiver(s).…”

“…Emotion rules may be followed, not to meet the conscious expectations of an organizational other, but rather to satisfy one's own unconscious desires or fantasies. In spite of these differences, psychoanalytic and social constructionist approaches to workplace emotions share many similarities (Gough 2004;Clarke 2003;Frosh 2001Frosh , 2003 including an acknowledgment of emotion as a core motivational force, a recognition that emotion and cognition interpenetrate in many ways, and an engagement with emotion as a starting point for interpreting social and organizational dynamics (Fineman, 2000(Fineman, , 2004Gabriel and Griffiths, 2002). Both perspectives acknowledge the importance of culture in shaping emotions, although a psychoanalytic one places greater emphasis on the controlling, consoling, and narcissistic aspects of culture, such as its function of providing an individual sense of self-importance and belonging, while a social constructionist approach places greater emphasis on culture's meaning-making functions.…”