Abstract
This article discusses the development of a psycho-cultural approach that brings together object relations psychoanalysis and cultural studies to explore the psycho-dynamics of culture, politics and society. While foregrounding the work of Donald Winnicott and other psychoanalysts influenced by his ideas, I contextualise that approach by tracing my own relationship to the study of psychoanalysis and culture since I was a Cultural Studies student in the 1980s and 1990s and also my engagement with the psychoanalytic scene that existed in London at that time. I have since applied a psycho-cultural lens to the study of masculinity and emotion in cinema and more recently to the study of emotion and political culture in Europe and the US. The article provides an example of that work by discussing the populist appeal of Donald Trump in the US and Nigel Farage in the UK, where the contradictory dynamics of attachment, risk and illusion are present when communicating with their supporters and the general public.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alford, H. (2015) Is Donald Trump actually a narcissist? Therapists weigh in. Vanity Fair, 15 November. http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/donald-trumpnarcissism-therapists, accessed 15 July 2017.
Alexander, S. (1984) Women, class and sexual differences in the 1830s and 1840s: Some reflections on the writing of a feminist history. History Workshop Journal 17(1): 125–149.
Bainbridge, C. and Yates, C. (eds.) (2014) Media and the Inner World: Psycho-Cultural Approaches to Emotion, Media and Popular Culture.
Bainbridge, C., Radstone, S., Rustin, M. and Yates, C. (eds.) (2007) Culture and The Unconscious. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.
Benjamin, J. (1990) The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism and the Problem of Domination. London: Virago Press.
Bion, W. (1962/1984) Learning From Experience. London: Karnac Books.
Bollas, C. (1993) Being a Character: Psychoanalysis and Self Experience. London: Routledge.
Bollas, C. (1987) The Shadow of the Object: Psychoanalysis of the Unthought Known. London: Free Association Books.
Bowker, M.H. and Buzby, A. (eds.) (2017) D.W. Winnicott and Political Theory: Recentering the Subject. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Campion, J. (dir.) (1993) The Piano (Jan Chapman Productions).
Corner, J. and Pels, S. (2003) Introduction: The re-styling of politics. In: Media and the Restyling of Politics. London: Sage Publications, pp. 1–19.
Dathan, M. (2016) Brexit poster showing thousands of male refugees and warning country is at breaking point. Daily Mail [online], 16 June. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3644716/Nigel-Farage-racism-storm-Brexit-poster-showing-thousands-male-refugees-warning-country-breaking-point.html, accessed 12 July 2017.
Elliott, A. and Urry, J. (2010) Mobile Lives. Abingdon, Oxford: Routledge.
Farhi, N. (1996) The Squiggle Foundation. Association of Child Psychotherapists 22(3): 404–406.
Field, J. (1934/1986) A Life of One’s Own. London: Virago Press.
Freud, S. (1920/1955) Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Standard Edition 18. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 7–66.
Giroux, H.A. (2014) Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism. 2nd ed. New York: Peter Lang.
Goodhart, D. (2017) The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics. London: C. Hurst & Co.
Goodwin, M.J. and Heath, O. (2016) The 2016 referendum, Brexit and the left behind: An aggregate-level analysis of the result. The Political Quarterly 87(53): 323–332.
Grant, C. (2015) Interplay: (Re) finding and (re) framing cinematic experience, film space and the child’s world. Lola [online], December, Issue 6. http://www.lolajournal.com/6/interplay.html, accessed 20 June 2017.
Green, A. (2005) Play and Reflection in Donald Winnicott’s Writings, London: Karnac Books.
Hochschild, A.R. (2016) Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. New York: The New Press.
Hollway, W. (2016) Feminism, psychology and becoming a mother. Feminism and Psychology, 15 February, 26 (2): 131–152.
Hunt, (2017) ‘Not just undemocratic – It’s DANGEROUS’ Farage reveals why EU must be DESTROYED. Express.co.uk [online], 19 January. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/756105/Nigel-Farage-reveals-European Union-hatred-destruction-plan, accessed 23 December 2017.
Jones, E. (1929/1950) Jealousy. In: Papers on Psychoanalysis. 5th ed. London: Balliere, Tindall & Cox, pp. 325–340.
Klein, M. (1957) Envy and gratitude. In: Envy and Gratitude and Other Works, 1946 1963. London: Virago Press, pp. 176–235.
Kuhn, A. (ed.) (2013) Little Madnesses: Winnicott, Transitional Phenomena and Cultural Experience. London: Routledge.
MacRury, I. and Yates, C. (2017) Framing the mobile phone: Pathologies of an everyday object. Communication and Media Journal 11(38) http://aseestant.ceon.rs/index.php/comman/issue/view/467/showToc, accessed 20 July 2017.
Mercia, D. and Tatum, S. (2016) Clinton expresses regret for saying ‘half’ of Trump supporters are ‘deplorables’. CNN Politics [Online], 16 September. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basket-of-deplorables/index.html, accessed 23 December 2017.
Milner, M. (1950) On Not Being Able to Paint. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
Minghella. A. (dir.) (1999) The Talented Mr. Ripley (Mirage Enterprises/Timnick Films).
Mitchell, J. (1975) Psychoanalysis and Feminism. London: Penguin Books.
Mitchell, J. and Rose, J. (eds.) (1985) Feminine Sexuality: Jacques Lacan and the École Freudienne. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Mollon, P. (2002) Shame and Jealousy: The Hidden Turmoils. London: Karnac Books.
Moran, L. (2016) Anti-EU leader ignores Jo Cox’s murder in ‘crass’ Brexit victory speech. Huffington Post [online], 24 June. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/farage-bullet-fired-jo-cox_us_576cd17ae4b0dbb1bbba2722, accessed 20 July 2017.
Nichols, M. (dir.) (2004) Closer (Columbia Pictures).
Ogden, T.H. (1992) The Matrix of the Mind: Object Relations and the Psychoanalytic Dialogue. London: Karnac Books.
Ogden, T.H. (1999) Reverie and Interpretation: Sensing Something Human. London: Karnac Books.
Phillips, A. (1994) On Flirtation. London: Faber and Faber.
Phillips, A. (1997) Terrors and Experts. London: Faber and Faber.
Reiner, R., Livingstone, S. and Allen, J. (2001) Casino culture: Crime and media in a winner-loser society. In: K. Stenson, and R. Sullivan (eds.) Crime, Risk and Justice: The Politics of Crime Control in Liberal Democracies (pp. 174–194). Willan Publishing: Cullompton, UK.
Richards, B. (2007) Emotional Governance; Politics, Media, Terror. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Richards, V. (ed.) (1996) The Person Who is Me: Contemporary Perspectives on the True and False Self. The Winnicott Studies Monograph Series. London: Other Press.
Riley, D. (1983) War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother. London: Virago Press.
Riviere, J. (1929) Womanliness as masquerade. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 9: 303–313.
Scorsese, M. (dir.) (1976) Taxi Driver (Bill/Phillips/Italo/Judeo Productions).
Segal, L. (1990) Slow Motion. Changing Masculinities, Changing Men. London: Virago Press.
Sennett, R. (1977) The Fall of Public Man. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Strange, S. (1997) Casino Capitalism. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
Trump, D. (2016) Donald Trump’s Full Inauguration Address. http://www.onenewspage.com/video/20170120/6597260/Donald-Trump-full-inaugural-address.htm, accessed 20 July 2017.
Yates, C. (2000) Masculinity and good-enough jealousy. Psychoanalytic Studies 2(1): 77–88.
Yates, C. (2007) Masculine Jealousy and Contemporary Cinema. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Yates, C. (2015) The Play of Political Culture, Emotion and Identity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Yates, C. (2018) The psychodynamics of casino culture and politics. The Journal of Religion and Health: Medicine, Psychology, and Spirituality (forthcoming).
Yates, C. and Thompson, S. (2016) The nasty politics of risk, gender and the emotional body in the US presidential election. In: D. Lilleker, D. Jackson, E. Thorsen, and A. Veneti (eds.) US Election Analysis 2016: Media Voters and the Campaign. Bournemouth University: Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community, pp. 55–56.
Yates, C. and Thompson, S. (2017) Mummy, Mother Theresa or Maybot. In: E. Thorsen, D. Jackson, and D. Lilleker (eds.) UK Election Analysis 2017: Media, Voters and the Campaign. Bournemouth University: Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community, pp. 89–90.
Weldon, E.V. (2011) Playing with Dynamite: A Personal Approach to the Psychoanalytic Understanding of Perversion, Violence, and Criminality. London: Karnac Books.
Wilson, E. (1980) Only Halfway to Paradise: Women in Post-War Britain 1945–1968. London: Tavistock Publications.
Winnicott, D.W. (1960) The theory of the parent-infant relationship. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 41: 585–595.
Winnicott, D.W. (1971) Playing and Reality. London: Penguin Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yates, C. Reflecting on the study of psychoanalysis, culture and society: The development of a psycho-cultural approach. Psychoanal Cult Soc 23, 54–67 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-018-0077-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-018-0077-0