Summary
Contents
This book provides a clear, focused road map to the study of the body in society. It defines, explains and applies core topics relating to the human body demonstrating how we approach it as a social phenomenon.
Each concept: Includes an easy to understand definition; Provides real-world examples; Gives suggestions for further reading; Is carefully cross-referenced to other related concepts
Written to meet the needs of the modern student this book offers the basic materials, tools and guidance needed study and write about the body.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Definition Psychoanalysis is a theoretical approach to the workings of the human mind, first formulated by Sigmund Freud, which posits various universalizing propositions around the formation, development and expression of the human psyche. Those universalizing propositions are both normative (related to ‘normal’ developmental phases, e.g. the Oedipal stage) and of pathological importance (related to imperfect development, e.g. the Oedipal complex). While in many ways diametrically opposed to social inquiry in its emphasis on the psyche of the individual – as distinct from locating inquiry in the individual in social relations – psychoanalysis is nevertheless important to the body in society, as it has been adapted by later theorists of the body whose work is influential within sociology (see especially Cyborgs, Feminism, Performativity).
Psychology is the study ...