From: "Orion Anderson" <libraryofsocialscience-AT-earthlink.net> To: <nietzsche-AT-driftline.org> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 12:13:51 -0400 Cc: Subject: [Nietzsche] Zizek, Norman O. Brown & the Psychology of Culture Just Published: ZIZEK, NORMAN O. BROWN & THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CULTURE by Richard Koenigsberg According to Slavoj Zizek, the fundamental level of ideology is that of an "(unconscious) fantasy structuring our social reality." Ideology is not a "dreamlike illusion," rather is a "fantasy- construction which serves as a support for our 'reality' itself." Matthew Sharpe notes that just as an individual subject's discursive universe will "only ever be unified through recourse to a fantasy," so too the public ideological frame wherein political subjects take their bearings can only function through the vehicle of what Zizek calls "ideological fantasies." Norman O. Brown's writings in Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History allow us to expand upon Zizek's views. In contemporary theory, concepts such as culture, ideology, discourse and narrative usually are taken as "givens." These concepts are used to "explain" the mind, but are not themselves considered to be subject to explanation. However, one may pose questions such as: Why do particular discourses become dominant within a given society? Why do some narratives replicate whereas others do not? How may we account for the structure and shape of particular ideologies, and the passion with which they are embraced? Whereas Lacanian theorists view the mind as a product of the symbolic order, Norman O. Brown seeks to explain the nature of the symbolic order itself. Brown states that culture represents a set of "projections of the repressed unconscious." Symbolic objects in culture, according to Brown, exist to the extent that they perform psychological functions for the subject. Culture, Brown declares, exists in order to allow human beings to "project the infantile complexes into concrete reality, where they can be seen and mastered." _____ The complete paper by Dr. Richard Koenigsberg is available as an on-line publication. To read: "Zizek, Norman O. Brown and the Psychology of Culture" PLEASE CLICK HERE <http://ideologiesofwar.com/papers/rk_zizek.htm> or visit: <http://ideologiesofwar.com/papers/rk_zizek.htm> http://ideologiesofwar.com/papers/rk_zizek.htm _____ ZIZEK, NORMAN O. BROWN AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CULTURE Brown states that culture--like the transference--is created by the repetition compulsion and constantly produces "new editions of the infantile conflicts." Culture thus may be viewed as "one vast arena in which the logic of the transference works itself out." The fantasies that create the human neurosis, Brown says, cannot be directly apprehended or mastered, "but their derivatives in human culture can." Culture, then, may be viewed as a symbolic medium that allows desires and fantasies to become externalized and articulated as social reality. Culture represents a screen for the projection of inner mental contents. Symbolic objects in society constitute objectifications that permit us to "perceive" our desires and fantasies. Culture therefore, according to Brown, "does for all mankind what the transference was supposed to do for the individual." We need no longer be content, therefore, with tautological concepts such as "discourse" and "narrative." Brown's account of the relationship between the subject and culture suggests that it is possible to explain or account for a culture's discourses and narratives. Ideologies exist within societies as modus operandi allowing members of society to express and articulate their shared fantasies. To explain a specific ideology, therefore, we seek to identify the nature of the desires and fantasies that are its source. E-mail: <mailto:oanderson-AT-ideologiesofwar.com> oanderson-AT-ideologiesofwar.com Web: <http://ideologiesofwar.com/> http://ideologiesofwar.com/ _______________________________________________ List address: nietzsche-AT-driftline.org Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/nietzsche-driftline.org
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