Consciousness and Unconsciousness

Autor: Andrew J Shapiro, Lynn S. Chancer
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Popis: Contemporary sociological theory frequently prioritizes that which is consciously known over thoughts, feelings and motivations that are beyond conscious awareness. Consciousness, being immediately measurable, resonates with the still often positivistic orientation of mainstream sociology. Unconsciousness, by contrast, is messy, resisting apprehension through conventional methodological approaches. Whereas many scholars have responded to this inscrutability by dismissing the importance and even the very existence of unconscious processes, this chapter seeks to highlight the significance of both consciousness and unconsciousness for the study of social life. We begin by illuminating how such pivotal sociological thinkers as Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Bourdieu have implicitly grappled with the unconscious mind. From there, we turn to a brief history of more explicit theorizations of unconsciousness, tracing the ideas of core psychoanalytic thinkers like Freud, Jung and Lacan alongside more socio-psychoanalytic theorists like Fromm and Fanon. Finally, we demonstrate the ongoing relevance of unconsciousness to sociological inquiry by highlighting contemporary theorists who have used the unconscious to account for social problems from racial domination to interpersonal violence. Ultimately, we call upon sociological theorists and empirical researchers to adopt a more multidimensional approach when analyzing the multiple dimensions of social reality.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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