Psychoanalysis and Psychology: Minding the Gap PDF
Preview Psychoanalysis and Psychology: Minding the Gap
Psychoanalysis and Psychology Also by Stephen Frosh THE POLITICS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE (with Danya Glaser) THE POLITICS OF MENTAL HEALTH (with Ragnhild Banton, Paul Clifford, Julian Lousada and Joanna Rosenthall) Psychoanalysis and Psychology Minding the Gap Stephen Frosh M MACMILLAN © Stephen Frosh 1989 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1989 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Wessex Typesetters (Division of The Eastern Press Ltd) Frome, Somerset British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Frosh, Stephen, 1954- Psychoanalysis and psychology: minding the gap 1. Psychoanalysis. Theories I. Title 150.19'5 ISBN 978-0-333-44796-3 ISBN 978-1-349-19993-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19993-8 To Daniel (born with this book) Contents Author's Note and Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Psychoanalysis, psychology and science 1 Of subjects and subjectivity 5 The book 7 1 Models of the Mind 11 Explaining mental phenomena 11 The semantics of experience 15 Reductionism 19 Artificial minds 28 The Chinese room 33 Mental contents 43 The meaning of meaning 48 Conclusion 61 2 The Internal History of the Child 63 The psychoanalytic method 67 The psychoanalytic child 75 Growing knowledge 85 Creating a social being 97 Conclusion: the problems of linkage 105 3 Words and Meanings 111 Operants and universals 113 Constructions and pragmatics 120 Representation, structure and meaning 129 Language and the unconscious 134 Language and desire 142 Conclusion 156 vii viii Contents 4 Gender Differences, Sexual Difference 159 Constructionist discourse 162 Terms of investigation 166 Biological dispositions 167 Social learning theory of gender socialisation 172 Androgyny 176 Gendered ideas 182 Sexual difference 189 Complex division 193 Symbol and sexuality 201 5 The Racist Subject 207 Reductionism and social explanation 207 The racist heritage 210 Racism and prejudice 215 Modernity and fragmentation 227 The authoritarian personality 230 Projection, identity and conspiracy 237 Sex and the Other 242 Sexual terror and the masculine order 246 Conclusion 248 Conclusion: The Different Subject 250 References 257 Index 268 Author's Note and Acknowledgements This book arises out of the tension, which I hope is a creative one, between my theoretical interests in psychoanalysis and my work as a clinical and academic psychologist. I have been influenced by some recent attempts to use psychoanalytic concepts to reformulate psychology, and particularly by the book Changing the Subject by Julian Henriques, Wendy Hollway, Cathy Urwin, Couze Venn and Valerie Walkerdine (Methuen, 1984). I would like to thank Maria Black, Linda Buckingham, Glyn Humphreys, Lynette Moodley and Valerie Walkerdine for reading and commenting on drafts of various chapters of the book. Parts of Chapter 5 were originally presented as a talk on 'Psychoanalysis and Racism' to the Psychoanalysis and the Public Sphere conference organised by Free Association Books and North East London Polytechnic in London in October 1987. Stephen Frosh ix Introduction Psychoanalysis, psychology and science There is a long history of opposition between psychology, both in its academic and (to a lesser extent) its clinical forms, and psychoanalysis. This has some of its roots in the automatic antagonism between two disciplines that are contesting the same field - in this case, explanations of human behaviour. But it also reflects a polarity in the philosophical bases and empirical procedures characteristic of the two enterprises. Psychologists have adopted a model for their discipline which is founded on the example of the natural sciences. Emphasis is placed on the careful collection of observational data, the generation of hypotheses that involve operational concepts and measurable predictions, and the design and implementation of experimental procedures for use with human 'subjects' that emulate the arrangements governing laboratory investigations of non-human phenomena. Theorising is related to testable hypotheses; experiments are approved to the extent that they employ appropriately sampled and numerous populations of study, objective assessment procedures and clearly defined interventions with specific effects, with all extraneous influences 'controlled'. Although it is recognised that there is a place for other modes of investigation, such as naturalistic observations and single case experimental designs, these are regarded either as precursors of proper experimental work, or as second-best substitutes when full experimental control is im possible. On the face of it, the psychoanalytic procedure could hardly be further from this idealised view of experimental psychology. Psychoanalysis has its origins and main realm of action in the consulting room. Its data, with the exception of some direct observation procedures with children, is collected in a highly 'reactive' way, in the context of a dialogue between a patient and 1
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