Fantasy in Lacanian Theory

Abstract

Whilst Freud’s theory was itself inherently social (Craib, 1994), Lacan is often credited with the most radical development of psychoanalysis in respect to our understanding of society and politics (e.g. Stavrakakis, 1999). His influence on contemporary social and cultural theory means he cannot reasonably be ignored (Homer, 2005, p. 1). This is particularly true in this book, as it is within Lacanian political theory that the relationship between fantasy and social movements has most directly been addressed. For Lacan and Lacanian theory, fantasy lies at the very heart of subjectivity. The only true alternative to fantasy is psychosis. For Lacan’s disciples, his revision of Freud in respect to fantasy means that the latter’s ‘view of fantasy cannot be maintained in psychoanalytic theory (Evans, 1996, p. 60, emphasis added). In particular, those who work with the classical dualism between fantasy and reality are likely to be branded as guilty of ‘naëve realism’ (Žižek, 1989, p. 47). Glynos (2011, p. 83) refers to earlier theories as reflecting ‘staid “false consciousness” conceptualizations of fantasy’.