Introduction

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This book addresses the methods and problems of ‘applied psychoanalysis’ as it moves from the couch to culture, focusing on “the signifier” as the royal road to the unconscious. While Lacanian inspired analyses of cultural and social phenomena have for the latest decades enjoyed a certain success within Academia, not least thanks to the “Slovenian” school, the methods and problems of “applied psychoanalysis” still need to be addressed and discussed. What are we actually doing when taking psychoanalysis from the couch to the analysis of society, culture, and arts? Is there such a thing as a “cultural unconscious”? How is it possible to move from the singular experience on the couch to universal structures to be detected in culture and society, or to the aesthetic experience of an artwork? In this book we will propose applied psychoanalysis to be a "science of the signifier”, insisting that the analysis of the signifier is the royal road to the understanding of the unconscious, whether individual or cultural.
Translated title of the contributionIndledning
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAnalyzing the Cultural Unconscious : Science of the Signifier
EditorsLilian Munk Rösing, Henrik Jøker Bjerre, Kirsten Hyldgaard, Jakob Rosendal, Brian Benjamin Hansen
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherBloomsbury Academic
Publication date2020
Pages1-14
ISBN (Print)9781350088368
Publication statusPublished - 2020

ID: 235740678