ABSTRACT

Originally published in 1999 Social Theory and Psychoanalysis in Transition is a benchmark critique of Freudian theory in which a dialogue between the Frankfurt School, the Lacanian tradition and post-Lacanian developments in critical and feminist theory is developed. Considering afresh the relations between self and society, Elliot argues for the importance of imagination and the unconscious in understanding issues about the self and self-identity, ideology and power, sexual difference and gender.

chapter |11 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|34 pages

Subjectivity and the Discourse of Psychoanalysis

Freud and Social Theory

chapter 2|31 pages

The Manipulation of Desire

Critical Theory and the Problem of Fragmentation

chapter 3|33 pages

Repression and Social Transformation

Critical Theory Beyond the Politics of Domination

chapter 4|35 pages

The Language of Desire

Lacan and the Specular Structure of the Self

chapter 5|37 pages

Psychoanalysis, Ideology and Modern Societies

Post-Lacanian Social Theory

chapter 6|30 pages

Sexual Division, Gender-Identity and Symbolic Order

Feminist Politics and Post-Lacanian Theory

chapter 7|38 pages

Social Theory and Psychoanalysis in Transition

The Possibilities of the Social Imaginary