Discourse analysis and psychoanalysis

Journal/Book: Brit J Soc Psychol. 1997; 36: St Andrews House, 48 Princess Rd East, Leicester, Leics, England LE1 7DR. British Psychological Soc. 479-495.

Abstract: Discourse analysis presents a challenge to mainstream psychology, but it risks either neglecting individual experience by employing a quasi-behaviourist notion of 'blank subjectivity' or folding back into simple humanism through an appeal to uncomplicated subjectivity'. This paper argues that productive links can be made with psychoanalysis to elaborate an alternative notion of 'complex subjectivity' which would provide a better theory of the subject, and so circumvent these problems. Eight aspects of transformative theoretical work that would need to be applied to psychoanalytic writing-a move to a human science frame, a turn to collective phenomena, a shift away from always intentional authorial responsibility, a reading of texts as reconstructions of the past, an attention to researcher subjectivity, an understanding of the text as 'other', an emphasis on language in reframing accounts, and a sensitivity to the cultural specificity of analytic vocabularies-are described, and some reflections on method, including a description of the 'discursive complex' as an appropriate analytic device, are outlined.

Note: Article Parker I, Bolton Inst Higher Educ, Discourse Unit, Deane Rd, Bolton BL3 5AB, ENGLAND

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