New Reflections on the Theory of Power: A Lacanian Perspective
- PDF / 160,501 Bytes
- 20 Pages / 442 x 663 pts Page_size
- 91 Downloads / 232 Views
New Reflections on the Theory of Power: A Lacanian Perspective Saul Newman Department of Political Science, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
The aim of this paper is to explore, through key Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts, the theoretical dimensions of a post-Foucauldian understanding of power. It is argued that while Foucault’s treatment of power freed it from its foundations in sovereignty and essentialist subjectivity, it nevertheless lacked a specific psychic dimension that would explain the mechanism by which we become subjects F that is, how we become both attached to our own subjection and, at various times, resist it. It is here that Lacan’s theory of subjectivity vis-a`-vis the lack in the Symbolic Order is relevant. I suggest that the Lacanian Real F as the name given to this lack F allows us to arrive at a more coherent theory of power, as well as explain its fundamental instability. It also allows us to extend the analysis of power F through categories such as fantasy and jouissance F to its symbolic and ideological dimensions, as well as account for contemporary forms of resistance to power. Contemporary Political Theory (2004) 3, 148–167. doi:10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300105 Keywords: power; subjectivity; Foucault; Lacan; resistance; psychoanalysis
Introduction Power is a central category in contemporary political theory. Where it is particularly crucial is in the field of radical politics, in which questions of emancipation, freedom and resistance all bear reference to a dominant mode of power that is perceived as being a threat to them. However, Foucault’s reconfiguration of the concept of power had fundamental implications for these questions F no longer could power be seen in simple opposition to the subjectivity it restricted, but rather as something that actually constituted this subjectivity. Nevertheless, Foucault’s theory of power ran into its own conceptual difficulties F particularly in relation to: the all-pervasiveness of power; explaining the actual mechanism of subjection; and allowing a theoretical space of resistance. The aim of this article is to examine some of these limitations through the use of key Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts such as the Symbolic, Imaginary and Real, as well as transgression, law, fantasy and enjoyment (jouissance). I will suggest that an application of these categories
Saul Newman New Reflections on the Theory of Power
149
allows us to extend the analysis of power to its symbolic and ideological dimensions F aspects that were neglected in Foucault’s approach. Furthermore, it will allow us to develop new insights into the functioning of power, the process of subjectification and the question of resistance in contemporary societies.
Foucault’s ‘Micro-physics’ of Power To sketch the background to some of these theoretical developments, we must briefly revisit Foucault’s analysis of power. For Foucault, power could no longer be seen as a capacity to act, that could be concent
Data Loading...
