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Has psychoanalysis become "postmodern"? How are the various schools of psychanalysis being altered by postmodernism? What role does psychoanalysis have to play in the cultural debate in postmodern times? This is an account of the complex and contradictory nature of psychoanalysis in the postmodern age. It presents a history and critique of the concept of postmodernism throughout contemporary psychoanalytic thought, giving a critical survey of the complex relations between desire, selfhood and culture. Among the contributors are: Jessica Benjamin, Jane Flax, Stephen Frosh, Thomas Ogden, Stephen Mitchell, Karen Peoples and Mark Bracher.

Computers and databases, mobile telephony and SMS texting, the Internet and email, digital broadcasting and satellites: all such mobile technologies feed directly into the performativity of mobile lives. Yet digital technologies also facilitate the mobilization of feelings and affect, memories and desires, dreams and anxieties. This mobilization is very complex and contradictory at the level of the self. Communication technologies underpin an increased digitization of social relationships, but they also imply a broad and extensive change in the way emotions are contained (stored, deposited, retrieved) within relationships at a distance. This article builds upon the notion of ‘miniaturized mobilities’, as detailed in the theory of mobile lives, and draws specifically from psychoanalytic theory in order better to grasp contemporary transformations in the storage, containment and retrieval of affective states afforded by new information technologies. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Routledge Handbook of Psychoanalysis in the Social Sciences and Humanities provides a comprehensive, critical overview of the historical, theoretical and applied forms of psychoanalytical criticism. This path-breaking Handbook offers students new ways of understanding the powers and limits of psychoanalysis, and of the social, cultural and political possibilities of psychoanalytic critique. The book offers students and professionals clear and concise chapters on the development of psychoanalysis, introducing key theories that have influenced debates over the psyche, desire and emotion in the social sciences and humanities. There are substantive chapters on classical Freudian theory, Kleinian and Bionian theory, object-relations psychoanalysis, Lacanian and post-Lacanian approaches, feminist psychoanalysis, as well as postmodern trends in psychoanalysis. There is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to psychoanalytic critique, with contributions drawing from developments in sociology, politics, history, cultural studies, women's studies and architecture.

In what follows the appropriation of psychoanalysis in sociological theory is charted, with four key sociological traditions considered: first, several early and influential articulations of psychoanalysis and sociology developed in Europe (particularly as represented in the work of the Frankfurt school of sociology) and North America (especially in the writings of Talcott Parsons); second, structuralist and poststructuralist appropriations of psychoanalysis as refracted in sociological debate; third, feminist and postmodern social theory; and finally, more contemporary developments within European psychoanalytic traditions that have influenced the social sciences and humanities.

The paper develops a polemical and combative critique of psychoanalysis, as theory and as therapy, in terms of the ideas of modernity and postmodernity. The author paints a vivid theoretical fresco of the political deadlocks of our contemporary confessional culture, pitting psychoanalytic against constructivist approaches. An assessment of the dialogue between psychoanalysis and postmodernism is then offered. The author concludes by situating the radical political edge of psychoanalysis in terms of its insights into ethics, cultural difference and the project of human autonomy.

Contributors. Acknowledgements. Editor's Introduction. Part 1: Traditions of Social Thought 1. Phenomenological Sociology in Japan and its Significance for Contemporary Social Research by Kazuhisa Nishihara. Prelude by Nick Crossley 2. Critical Theory and its Development in Post-War Japanese Sociology: Pursuing True Democracy in Rapid Capitalist Modernization by Takeshi Deguchi. Prelude by Axel Honneth 3. Japanese Psychoanalysis as Deciphering the Japanese Unconsciousness and Supporting the Japanese Subject by Aiko Kashimura. Prelude by Anthony Elliott 4. Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and Thereafter by Masahiro Ogino. Prelude by Daniel Chaffee 5. Acceptance of Beck's Theory in Japan: From Environmental Risks to Individualization by Midori Ito and Munenori Suzuki. Prelude by Roland Robertson Part 2: Issues in Japanese Social Theory 6. The Three Selves in Japanese Society: Individualized, Privatized, and Psychologized Selves by Masataka Katagiri. Prelude by Anthony Elliott 7. Japanese Feminist Social Theory and Gender Equality by Yumiko Ehara. Prelude by Chilla Bulbeck and Laura Dales 8. Network, Community and Culture by Tomohiko Asano. Prelude by Sam Han 9. Postmodernity by Atsushi Sawai. Prelude by Eric Hsu 10. Globalization by Kiyomitsu Yui. Prelude by Bryan S. Turner Afterword: Apollo's Chariot by Charles Lemert

In this chapter I seek to accomplish two main objectives. The first is to review and reiterate the theory of a “new individualism” that I have detailed in recent writings in social theory (Elliott, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013; Elliott & Lemert, 2009a, b; Elliott & Urry, 2010). My argument is that we witness today the conditions and consequences of a new individualism sweeping the globe, especially evident in the new economy of high finance, media and technology industries. I then want to ask how the theory of new individualism differs from other influential standpoints in recent social theory. For my purposes in this chapter, the conceptual points of comparison with the theory of new individualism will be (1) the theory of ‘technologies of the self’ as elaborated by Michel Foucault and various neo-Foucaultians; and (2) the notion of ‘reflexive individualization’ outlined by Anthony Giddens. Second, I discuss the wider sociological ramifications of the new individualist thesis. New individualism, I shall argue, is not merely about individuals or their psychological dispositions; rather it penetrates to the very core of cultures and institutional life. New individualism is thus a kind of shorthand for the variety of modalities shaping, and shaped by, global social transformations. The key institutional drivers of new individualism that I shall elaborate are (1) continual reinvention, (2) instant change, (3) speed, and (4) short-termism or episodicity. I conclude the chapter with a consideration of the likely future sociological consequences of life lived in the new individualist fast lane. The New Individualist Thesis: The Sociological Backcloth The theory of the new individualism, as originally formulated, comprises four core dimensions: a relentless emphasis on self-reinvention; an endless hunger for instant change; a fascination with social acceleration, speed and dynamism; and a preoccupation with short-termism and episodicity (Elliott, 2013; Elliott & Lemert, 2009b; Elliott & Urry 2010;). The argument, broadly speaking, is that a new individualism can be deciphered from the culture in which people live their lives today – especially (but not only) those living in the polished, expensive cities of the West. Corporate networking, short-term project work, organizational downsizing, self-help manuals, compulsive consumerism, cybersex, instant identity makeovers and therapy culture: these are just some of the core features of global individualist culture, and in this previous research the argument was developed that immersion in such an individualist world carries profound emotional consequences for the private and public lives of people.

L'A. analyse les modalites de l'identification et de la repression du je envers autrui, telles que la psychanalyse permet de les cerner

1. Social Theory and Psychoanalysis: The Story So Far 2. Self and Society: Freud and Castoriadis on Imagination 3. Desire in Language: Kristeva and Laplanche on Repression 4. The Social Imaginary and Social Research 5. In Defence of Imagination: Concluding Remarks

Book synopsis: During the last decade and a half there have been dramatic changes in psychoanalytic theory, as well as in cultural, social and political theory. Psychoanalysis in Contexts examines these changes and explores the relationship between psychoanalysis and theory. The volume brings together leading scholars and practitioners in psychoanalysis to develop a unique rethinking of the relations between subjectivity and inter-subjectivity, sexual difference and gender power, and unconscious desire and political change. Psychoanalysis in Contexts creates a dialogue between different psychoanalytic approaches to the study of subjectivity, social action and modern societies. It will be essential reading for everyone interested in the future direction of psychoanalytic and cultural theory.