ABSTRACT
The Foucauldian idea that subjectivity is a product of positioning in discourses is now a sociological commonplace. However, the increasing tendency to read subjectivity only through the discourses that subject it, has resulted in a discourse determinism. Theorising a psychosocial subject will be affected by which version of psychoanalytic theory is applied. A Freudian psychoanalysis locates motivation in libidinal drives which are cathected on to a range of objects. Kleinian psychoanalysis, in contrast, locates primary motivations in object-seeking rather than pleasure-seeking and thus posits an essentially relational subject. At one time, the notion of the respectable working-class man connoted permanent skilled employment, heterosexuality, marriage, clean living, sobriety, moderation and reliable provision for, and protection of, the family. The reading takes people a long way in explaining the importance to Tommy of respect. To unravel Tommy's identifications with his father, people start with an extract which tells a startling story about Tommy's reactions to his father's death.
